[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 37 (Wednesday, March 4, 2015)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1309-S1310]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 8--EXPRESSING THE SENSE OF CONGRESS THAT 
  THE UNITED STATES POSTAL SERVICE SHOULD ISSUE A COMMEMORATIVE STAMP 
 HONORING THE 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE THREE CIVIL RIGHTS MARCHES FROM 
 SELMA, ALABAMA TO MONTGOMERY, ALABAMA THAT TOOK PLACE OVER THE COURSE 
                     OF SEVERAL WEEKS IN MARCH 1965

  Mr. BROWN (for himself, Mr. Scott, Mrs. McCaskill, Mr. Whitehouse, 
Mr. Donnelly, Mr. Coons, Ms. Hirono, Mr. Sanders, Ms. Warren, Ms. 
Collins, Mrs. Capito, and Mr. Portman) submitted the following 
concurrent resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Homeland 
Security and Governmental Affairs:

                             S. Con. Res. 8

       Whereas on March 7, 1965 ``Bloody Sunday'', approximately 
     600 civil rights marchers, led by now-Representative John 
     Lewis of

[[Page S1310]]

     the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and Reverend 
     Hosea Williams of the Southern Christian Leadership 
     Conference, headed east out of Selma, Alabama to the State 
     Capitol in Montgomery, Alabama;
       Whereas the civil rights activists sought to protest 
     discriminatory voter registration practices, and the shooting 
     of Jimmie Lee Jackson, who was shot after protecting his 
     mother and grandfather in a civil rights demonstration on 
     February 18, 1965, in a restaurant in Marion, Alabama, and 
     died eight days later on February 26, 1965;
       Whereas the nonviolent marchers were met and attacked with 
     clubs, whips, police dogs, and tear gas carried by State 
     troopers, local lawmen, and townspeople at the Edmund Pettus 
     Bridge as they were leaving Selma;
       Whereas dozens of peaceful marchers were injured in the 
     forced retreat by State troopers, local lawmen, and 
     townspeople;
       Whereas images of innocent protestors brutally beaten and 
     severely injured on March 7, 1965, remembered as ``Bloody 
     Sunday'', were depicted in television screens and in 
     newspaper articles across the country;
       Whereas Bloody Sunday galvanized a generation of civil 
     rights activists, and heightened support and awareness for 
     the civil rights movement;
       Whereas on March 9, 1965, two days later, Reverend Martin 
     Luther King, Jr. led a nonviolent protest reportedly as many 
     as 2,500 people before turning around after crossing the 
     Edmund Pettus Bridge due to a barricade of State troopers;
       Whereas on March 15, 1965, despite pressure from political 
     figures, U.S. District Judge Frank M. Johnson, Jr., issued an 
     injunction allowing the voting rights march from Selma to 
     Montgomery to proceed, overturning then-Alabama Governor 
     George Wallace's prohibition of the protest;
       Whereas on March 21, 1965, with the protection of U.S. Army 
     troops and the Alabama National Guard, more than 3,000 
     people, led by Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., set out from 
     Selma to Montgomery, a 54-mile journey, marching an average 
     of twelve miles a day along Route 80 and sleeping in fields;
       Whereas the nonviolent protestors safely reached the steps 
     of the Alabama State Capitol on March 25, 1965, by which 
     point their numbers had grown to 25,000, including many 
     religious and community leaders of all denominations, races, 
     and backgrounds;
       Whereas during these pivotal weeks, on March 17, 1965, and 
     with the Selma protestors at the forefront, President Lyndon 
     Johnson addressed a joint session of Congress, calling for 
     Federal voting rights legislation to protect African 
     Americans from barriers that prevented them from voting;
       Whereas with the Nation captivated by the courage and 
     conviction displayed by the civil rights activists, the 
     United States Congress passed and President Lyndon B. Johnson 
     enacted into law the landmark Voting Rights Act of 1965 on 
     August 6, 1965; and
       Whereas issuing a postage stamp honoring the fiftieth 
     anniversary of the civil rights marches is fitting and proper 
     because the marches united our country and helped affirm the 
     principle that all Americans shall be treated equally at the 
     voting booths as guaranteed under the United States 
     Constitution: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved by the Senate (the House of Representatives 
     concurring), That it is the sense of Congress that--
       (1) the Postmaster General should issue a commemorative 
     postage stamp honoring the 50th anniversary of the three 
     civil rights marches from Selma, Alabama, to Montgomery, 
     Alabama; and
       (2) such stamp should--
       (A) be issued in the denomination used for first-class mail 
     up to 1 ounce in weight;
       (B) bear such illustration or picture as the Postmaster 
     General determines; and
       (C) be placed in sale at such time and for such period as 
     the Postmaster General determines.

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