The price of liberty is high.

We, as Black people, know this from centuries of experience, being brought as captives to this nation in 1619. And the cost of freedom hasn’t gotten any less expensive in recent decades, as the Ukrainian people unfortunately are learning.

We remember the hefty price paid by freedom fighters such as John Lewis and many other coura- geous ordinary people as they marched across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Ala., on March 7, 1965, seeking the voting rights guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution.

Their march was halted when they were bru- tally attacked and beaten by police with billy clubs and tear gas who tried to thwart their efforts. But the crowd of marchers only came back larger and stronger in subsequent days as, led by a young Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., they made the 54-mile trek from Selma to Montgomery, the state’s capital, in support of voting rights. More than 25,000 people were with them that day when they arrived in Montgomery.

That first horrific march 57 years ago, which became known as “Bloody Sunday,” marked a turning point in this nation’s history and spurred the passage of the federal Voting Rights Act of 1965.

Today, Russian President Vladimir Putin is learning that brutal force is no match for what is right. Mr. Putin and leaders in many nations, including the United States, thought the Russian army would easily roll over the Ukrainian people in this appalling invasion.

But Ukraine’s people and its president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy — freedom fighters all — aren’t giving up. While more than 2 million people — mostly women, children and seniors — have fled in the last two weeks, hundreds of thousands of others have remained, taking measures to protect their freedom and that of their country. Estimates are that 25 percent of the fighters are women.

We call on the right-minded nations, people and companies of the world to continue their support of the people of Ukraine through hu- manitarian and other aid and to keep ratcheting up the pressure against Mr. Putin and Russia to end this senseless war.

We support the myriad economic and other sanctions that have been levied against Mr. Putin and Russia by more than 30 nations thus far, including the United States. On Tuesday, President Biden signed an executive order banning the import of Russian oil, liquefied natural gas and coal to the United States. The United Kingdom followed suit with its own Russian oil ban by the end of 2022.

While it is not an immediate ban, as we would like to see, it is a big step, given the U.K.’s and most of Europe’s dependence on Russia-produced oil. Some experts estimate that as much as 13 percent of the U.K.’s oil imports come from Russia. And, according to Eurostat, 30 percent of the European Union’s petroleum imports and 39 percent of the total gas imports came from Russia in 2017.

The European Commission announced plans this week to cut gas imports from Russia by two-thirds this year.

Throughout the United States, including in Metro Richmond, gasoline prices are jumping each day to a new record high. But we believe it is a small price to pay if it will help end Russian aggression and help the Ukrainian people secure their freedom.

We believe the Ukraine situation is a cover for selfish profiteers and price gougers whose sole interest is to make a buck off people during this global crisis. We call on Gov. Glenn A. Youngkin and Virginia Attorney General Jason S. Miyares to provide the leadership and steps necessary to stop this in the Commonwealth.

During his tenure, former Attorney General Mark R. Herring proved it could be done. Among his last acts in office in late 2021 was to hold gas stations in the Richmond area and Waynesboro accountable for violating the state’s anti-price gouging and consumer protection laws in May 2021 during the temporary pandemic shutdown of the Colonial Pipeline that supplies motor fuels and other petroleum-based products to a large portion of the East Coast.

We hope that Gov. Youngkin and Mr. Miyares will step up to the plate.

This crisis also directly signals the need for the United States and nations around the world to break free from the dependence on fossil fuels and continue to innovate and push the development of solar and wind power and other alternative energy sources.

The world is being held hostage right now by a madman in Russia who has the global community afraid to step in 100 percent to help Ukraine lest he unleash a nuclear bomb, move to take over Poland, Moldova or other nations and/or start World War III.

These are scary times, even more scary for the people of Ukraine. Our actions in the coming days will show just how much we are willing to pay for freedom.