by Emily Mosier
SELMA, AL — President Joe Biden joined thousands of people in Selma, Alabama, to commemorate Bloody Sunday, a historic moment in civil rights history. Biden used the opportunity to call for a strengthening of U.S. voting rights.
“The right to vote and to have your vote counted is the threshold of democracy and liberty,” Biden said in his speech at the foot of Edmund Pettus Bridge. “With it, anything is possible. Without it, without that right, nothing is possible.
“And this fundamental right remains under assault.”
Fifty-eight years ago, on the original Bloody Sunday, peaceful protesters and civil rights leaders, including Martin Luther King Jr. and Congressman John Lewis, faced violence from Alabama State Troopers while marching across a bridge named after a KKK Grand Dragon.
Now, people from all over the country come to march. They chant, sing and rally.
The political signs held by the marchers and the slogans on their T-shirts carried messages of voter equality, the same sentiment as the original marchers.
“Racism has never gone away, it’s just changed,” said Selma native Marissa Moore.
“The times we have today – it feels like people are trying to erase certain things,” said Russell Jordan, who served in the U.S. Navy for twenty years. This is Jordan’s fourth bridge crossing. “Voting rights everywhere is in danger.
“I try all the time to talk to young people and tell them how important it is to vote and vote in local elections, not just wait for the president to come. We’re losing local power.”
In his speech, Biden spoke about a congressional map in Alabama that he said was not drawn in a way that fairly represented a predominately Black district.
“My U.S. Department of Justice has joined many of you in arguing that the map violates the Voting Rights Act,” Biden said, referring to the 1956 bill that was fought for on Bloody Sunday.
Biden then urged congress to pass the Freedom to Vote Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act. The legislation would include giving the U.S. Justice Department power over local voting districts
Many of the marchers, like Ceona Lucian, came to honor the struggles of their ancestors. Lucian traveled to Selma from her home in Mississippi, and she waited in the sun for more than five hours to hear Biden speak.
“I’m very excited because this is something my great-grandfather did,” Lucian said. “He walked with Martin Luther King Jr. I wanted to keep something he did alive.”
Moore and Jordan echoed her sentiments.
“As a Black woman, knowing what my ancestors went through and knowing that I am my ancestors’ biggest dream . . . it’s a very emotional experience,” Moore said.
“I remember watching Bloody Sunday on a black and white TV so long ago . . . I was awestruck because how does someone do that?” Jordan said.
Biden led the marchers to the bridge alongside Rev. Al Sharpton and Rev. Jesse Jackson.
The march is not the first time Selma, Alabama, has made national news this year.
Biden’s visit comes after a tornado tore through Selma in January, destroying many homes and businesses in poverty-stricken neighborhoods.
Selma has already received $8 million of federal relief money. Biden said he and his administration are committed to seeing the recovery through to the finish by covering 100% of debris removal.
“We’re just getting started on the rebuilding effort,” Biden said. “And we’re here. We’ll be here as long as it takes.”
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