[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 29 (Wednesday, March 7, 2001)]
[House]
[Pages H715-H716]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




        36-YEAR ANNIVERSARY OF MARCH ACROSS EDMUND PETTUS BRIDGE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Jackson-Lee) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, my colleagues see on the floor 
of the House, the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Lewis) and the gentleman 
from Alabama (Mr. Hilliard).
  Mr. Speaker, I rise this evening on a day of a very special and 
heroic event. In fact, I am somewhat overwhelmed because this has been 
a particularly

[[Page H716]]

 difficult day. It caused me to see the importance of those many souls 
on March 7, 1965 who took the heroic step to walk across the Edmund 
Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama.
  It was heroic because they were marching into danger unforeseen. The 
simple request was to allow people to vote, to be able to capture the 
essence of the Constitution; and in the Declaration of Independence we 
all are created equal. We had the good fortune this weekend, as I have 
done for the past 3 years, to join John Lewis, one of those along with 
Hosea Williams and Bernard Lafayette and many, many others on that 
fateful day, March 7, 1965 to begin that walk of no return.
  We commemorated it, by our walk, and we walked tall. We saw media, we 
had throngs, and we were not beaten. Those 36 years ago, however, those 
individuals who were brave enough to do it, were putting their life on 
the line. They were beaten, beaten to unconsciousness. They were 
bloodied, but they were unbowed.
  After what we have gone through in this last election year, this past 
weekend was even more riveting and more emotional. It showed me even 
more the sacrifice made for those of us who now stand here today.
  The gentleman from Alabama (Mr. Hilliard) returned home after being 
educated at Morehouse and finishing his law degree to serve his 
community. I pay tribute to him because he lived that life and fought 
that fight. We must never forget March 7, 1965.
  We must never forget that bloody Sunday, we must never forget the 
courage of those who came back, Dr. Martin Luther King came back on, I 
believe, March 21, and we should commit ourselves, Republicans and 
Democrats alike, never to allow the fundamental right to vote to be 
diminished. That is why I propose a national holiday for all Americans 
to vote in Presidential years and the Secure Democracy Act that will 
establish the kind of systems that will allow all Americans to vote.
  I believe this is extremely important as we acknowledge as well this 
month the celebration of women in America's history. So many women who 
shared their life with the civil rights movement, so many women who are 
our first teachers, so many women who braved obstacles to be able to 
serve their country in the United States military. Yet we still have 
many miles to travel.
  Mr. Speaker, on behalf of those who wish to vote, on behalf of women, 
and as I close, on behalf of our children, for I join my previous 
colleague, the gentlewoman from the District of Columbia (Ms. Norton) 
to say how many more times will we apologize to the parents of dead 
children.
  We must in fact take the bravery of men and women who went forward in 
the civil rights movement and women who paved the way for those of us 
who stand here to pass real gun safety legislation, to hold adults 
accountable, to find ways to heal the broken hearts of children who 
find no other way to exhibit their anger than to take a 22 rifle and 
shoot 30 rounds of ammunition out of the 40 that the child secured.
  When is this Congress going to be brave enough, similar to those men 
and women who took those steps across the Edmund Pettus Bridge some 36 
years ago, willing to offer their lives so that America might be free 
and have the right to vote. When will we stand as Republicans and 
Democrats on behalf of our children to stop the bloodletting of 
children going to school and killing children because we have a love 
affair with arms. We know we can certainly protect the second amendment 
and protect our children as well.

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