Dick Durbin: “last Saturday marked the 50th anniversary of what has come to be known as Bloody Sunday. In March of 1965, Congressman…”

“last Saturday marked the 50th anniversary of what has come to be known as Bloody Sunday. In March of 1965, Congressman John Lewis, then a young man fresh out of college, and Rev. Hosea Williams led 600 brave civil rights activists across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, AL. These courageous men and women, and children marching with them, were marching in pursuit of the most fundamental right--the right preservative of all others--the right to vote. What they received that day, however, were brutal beatings from police batons as State troopers turned them back and chased them down. A few days later, President Lyndon B. Johnson addressed the Nation and called on Congress to pass the Voting Rights Act. Within months, the legislation was signed into law--guaranteeing that the fundamental right to vote would not be restricted through clever State and local schemes, such as poll taxes and literacy tests. I was proud to join Congressman Lewis on a trip to Selma about 10 years ago for a ceremonial walk across the bridge to mark the 40th anniversary of Bloody Sunday. As we marched on a Sunday morning in the footsteps of the civil rights giants, we celebrated a bill that has often been called the most significant civil rights law ever passed by Congress. Little did we know that 8 years later, in 2013, the Supreme Court would strike down a major provision of that law. In Shelby County v.…”