By Katie Mettler published in the Tampa Bay Times on March 3, 2015

Chloe Coney remembers her segregated grade school, when she finally got permission to sit in the front of the bus and the voting-rights marches in 1965.

She was just 15 then, but even as a teen, she understood the significance of what was happening around her. 

Fifty years later, she thinks the country still has a long way to go.

Next weekend, for the milestone anniversary of the Selma to Montgomery civil rights marches, she'll celebrate with a pilgrimage to Alabama. Coney is traveling as a guest of U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor, who is leaving from Washington, D.C., Friday morning with 100 other members of Congress to join President Barack Obama in Birmingham, Montgomery, Selma and Marion for a weekend of marching and rallies. 

The itinerary includes a trip to the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, the Rosa Parks Museum and a program on the steps of the Capitol, commemorating the 1965 march.

Castor kicked off the trip on Monday morning with Coney, who is her district office director, and members of the Hillsborough County chapter of the NAACP. The chapter will take two buses with more than 100 people to the march. 

"This commemoration 50 years later is so important because there is so much work left to do," Castor said.

The congresswoman spoke about the voting barriers that nonviolent convicted felons face in Florida. She said that people who pay their debt to society should have easier access to the ballot box. In Florida, they can't serve on a jury, vote or hold public office until their rights are restored. 

"That's modern-day Jim Crow," Castor said.

Bennie Small, president of the Hillsborough NAACP chapter, said he hopes the group will bring back strategy, knowledge and motivation to help mobilize the African-American community. 

"I'm from the old school, when we actually marched," he said. "You've still got to have that human touch on the ground."

"We want to translate what happened 50 years ago to make it relevant today," Coney said. "I want to let you know when I march across that bridge, I'll be thinking about Florida."