In civil rights march replay, will they step up to 2005 struggle?

There is giggling and fidgeting among the 10 or so students of color hanging out on the steps of Dorchester's Jeremiah E. Burke High School.

What there is not, at first glance, is much enthusiasm for a reenactment of the 1965 Selma to Montgomery civil rights march planned for the city next Sunday.

''This march is about voting rights," said 17-year-old Cindy Printemps. ''That's good, but the only thing I'm focused on is trying to change some other things, like all these shootings."

The ''Retracing the Struggle" march, sponsored by the Massachusetts Foundation for the Humanities, will step off from First Church in Roxbury on Putnam Street at 1 p.m. toward the Boston Common, closely hewing to the path taken by Martin Luther King Jr. when he led a march here to protest school segregation in 1965, according to organizers.

For herself, Printemps said, the importance of the reenactment pales before worries about school nights without books, guns dropped in school, and violence on the streets.

Some of her peers, though, see an opportunity to educate themselves about the creation of the Voting Rights Act, an event that can seem like ancient history to teens.

''Being a woman of color, I would attend" the march, said Clairedenise Comeau, 17, ''because without that happening my voice wouldn't be heard. I wouldn't have my opinion if I couldn't vote, and that's especially important for the black community."

Ego Ezedi, a former candidate for Boston City Council and a local minister who works actively with area youth, believes that organizers of the march should help young people draw parallels between the struggles of 1965 and those of today.

''If our young people are allowed to bring issues that they care about to the forefront, [the march] is going to be a powerful, powerful time," he said.

Joining in the weekend's event will be members of the Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity, of which Martin Luther King Jr. was a member, according to Justin Thornton, 19, a Boston College student and Alpha Phi Alpha member.

The reenactment march ''signifies not only progression, but it also signifies how much further we need to go," Thornton said.

Coming to Boston from his home in Maryland, Thornton said his parents had been concerned about sending their son to a city known for difficult race relations. ''If the march is embraced by people of all backgrounds, it would do a lot toward mending the outside perception of Boston," he said.

Some organizers of Sunday's reenactment of the '65 march -- part of a campaign that ultimately led to the signing of the Voting Rights Act of that same year -- are encouraging members of the community to not only participate, but to speak up and be heard among the dozens of politicians and grassroots organizations likely to show.

Gerthy Lahens, representing Boston's Haitian community as a member of the march's steering committee, said an open forum at which attendees could ask questions of their elected officials might lead to greater voter participation by minorities.

''We're trying to make people understand that the value in having a voice is by voting," Lahens said. ''Challenge us. Ask us, 'What are we going to do for the youth? What are we going to do for Boston?' "

Three major events are planned: a Saturday afternoon symposium at Boston College, a $500- and $1,000-a-plate benefit dinner Saturday evening, and the Sunday afternoon march itself.

Veteran political activist Ron Bell has worked with the foundation to include ''teach-ins" aimed at the young and focused on the historical context of the Voting Rights act.

''We want kids to get involved, not just to complain and criticize," Bell said.

For more information on the weekend's events or to register, go to www.mfh.org/retracingthestruggle