President Biden delivers remarks on the 58th anniversary of Bloody Sunday, at the Edmund Pettus Bridge Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images

Dear Commons Community,

President Joe Biden traveled yesterday to Selma, Alabama, to commemorate the 58th anniversary of “Bloody Sunday.”

There, Biden spoke at the Edmund Pettus Bridge — where on March 7, 1965, hundreds of civil rights marchers were attacked by police. The violence, which sparked national outrage, marked a turning point in the movement and led to the passage of the Voting Rights Act.  As reported by ABC News.

“They forced the country to confront the hard truth and to act to keep the promise of America alive,” the president said in his remarks at the bridge. He also stressed that he believed voting, a “fundamental right,” remains under assault decades later — from conservative Supreme Court justices and from state lawmakers and from election deniers.

Biden touted some steps he and others had taken, such as enacting the post-Jan. 6 Electoral Count Reform Act. But “we must remain vigilant,” he said, repeating his plea for Congress to pass new voting legislation named for the late Georgia Rep. John Lewis, who was beaten and suffered a skull fracture during “Bloody Sunday.”

And while the president said there was a list of other accomplishments he was proud of, including various investments in the Black community, “We know there’s work to do,” he said, briefly touching on destructive tornado weather that had blown through Selma.

His message, on the anniversary of the march, was “extremism will not prevail …. Silence, as the saying goes, silence is complicity. And I promise you, my administration will not remain silent. I promise you.”

After speaking, the president marched across the bridge with civil rights advocates — the first time he did so since entering the White House.

Biden’s press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters Friday, as she previewed the trip, that he would “talk about the importance of commemorating ‘Bloody Sunday’ so that history cannot be erased. He will highlight how the continued fight for voting rights is integral to delivering economic justice and civil rights for Black Americans.”

Biden has repeatedly spoken on voting rights, highlighting the issue in a sermon honoring Martin Luther King Jr. in January and in his most recent State of the Union, despite legislation faltering during his first two years in the Oval Office.

Democrats attempted last year to update the 1965 Voting Rights Act with a bill named after Lewis but failed to gain enough support to break the Senate filibuster. Now, with a Republican-led House, any effort to push legislation through will face an even greater challenge.

“In America, we must protect the right to vote, not suppress that fundamental right. We honor the results of our elections, not subvert the will of the people. We must uphold the rule of the law and restore trust in our institutions of democracy,” Biden said during his State of the Union last month.

Rep. Terri Sewell, D-Ala., said she invited Biden to attend the “Bloody Sunday” anniversary during his State of the Union.

A sad day in the history of our country!

Tony

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