[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 23 (Thursday, March 3, 2005)]
[Senate]
[Page S2045]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  SENATE RESOLUTION 70--COMMEMORATING THE 40TH ANNIVERSARY OF BLOODY 
                                 SUNDAY

  Mr. FRIST (for himself, Mr. Corzine, Mr. McConnell, Mr. Kennedy, Mr. 
Allen, Mr. Reid, and Mr. Alexander) submitted the following resolution; 
which was considered and agreed to:

                               S. Res. 70

       Whereas March 7, 2005, marks the 40th anniversary of Bloody 
     Sunday, the day on which some 600 civil rights marchers were 
     demonstrating for African American voting rights;
       Whereas Jimmy Lee Jackson was killed February 26, 1965, 2 
     weeks prior to Bloody Sunday, at a civil rights demonstration 
     while trying to protect his mother and grandfather from a law 
     enforcement officer;
       Whereas Congressman John Lewis and the late Hosea Williams 
     led these marchers across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, 
     Alabama where they were attacked with billy clubs and tear 
     gas by State and local lawmen;
       Whereas the circumstances leading to Selma's Bloody Sunday 
     represented a set of grave injustices for African Americans 
     which included--
       (1) the murder of Herbert Lee of Liberty, Mississippi for 
     attending voter education classes;
       (2) the cutting off of Federal food relief by State 
     authorities in 2 of the poorest counties in Mississippi in 
     order to intimidate residents from registering to vote; and
       (3) the loss of jobs or refusal of credit to registered 
     black voters at local banks and stores;
       Whereas during the march on Bloody Sunday Congressman Lewis 
     was beaten unconscious, leaving him with a concussion and 
     countless other injuries;
       Whereas footage of the events on Bloody Sunday was 
     broadcast on national television that night and burned its 
     way into the Nation's conscience;
       Whereas the courage, discipline, and sacrifice of these 
     marchers caused the Nation to respond quickly and positively; 
     and
       Whereas the citizens of the United States must not only 
     remember this historic event, but also commemorate its role 
     in the creation of a more just society and appreciate the 
     ways in which it has inspired other movements around the 
     world: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved,  That Congress commemorates the 40th anniversary 
     of Bloody Sunday.

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