On the recordMarch 10, 2010
Today, I rise in support of House Concurrent Resolution 249 to commemorate the 45th anniversary of Bloody Sunday and the role that it played in ensuring the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Today, we remember a momentous occasion in our history. On March 7, 1965, 600 marchers, led by my esteemed colleague from Georgia, Congressman John Lewis, were savagely attacked by State and local police as they attempted to cross the Edmund Pettus Bridge into Selma, Alabama. These brave marchers used the power of nonviolence to demand that most basic of democratic rights of a citizen: the right to vote. In return, the marchers were met with billy clubs and tear gas. But the marchers confronted terror with courage. Their dignity in the face of brutality moved this House to pass the Voting Rights Act, which reaffirmed this Nation's commitment that every citizen has the right to participate fully in the political life of the Nation. This past weekend, my family and I traveled to Selma to honor the 45th anniversary of Bloody Sunday.
