[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 37 (Wednesday, March 7, 2012)]
[House]
[Page H1214]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




           RECOGNIZING THE COURAGE OF CONGRESSMAN JOHN LEWIS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Georgia (Mr. Barrow) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. BARROW. Mr. Speaker, I rise today on the 47th anniversary of 
Bloody Sunday to recognize the courage of our colleague, Congressman 
John Lewis, and the many forgotten heroes of the civil rights movement.
  Nearly 50 years ago in Selma, Alabama, some 600 demonstrators marched 
for equal voting rights for African Americans. They got only as far as 
the Edmund Pettus Bridge, where State and local lawmen attacked them 
with clubs and tear gas and drove them back into Selma. Journalists 
captured the brutality of these attacks, sparking the public outrage 
that eventually led to the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
  This Sunday, Congressman Lewis returned to that very bridge that 
changed history. Again, he was met by a large group of police--but this 
time they served as his congressional escort.
  Mr. Speaker, we've come a long way in the last 50 years, but we still 
have a long way to go in order to ensure equality and justice for all, 
and I ask that my colleagues join with me in that work.

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