[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 36 (Monday, March 7, 2016)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1313-S1314]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   51ST ANNIVERSARY OF BLOODY SUNDAY

  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, today marks the 51st anniversary of what 
has come to be known as Bloody Sunday. On March 7, 1965, John Lewis and 
Reverend Hosea Williams led 600 brave civil rights activists in a march 
over the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, AL. These courageous men, 
women, and children gathered to draw attention to the systematic 
disenfranchisement of African Americans in Alabama and throughout much 
of the Deep South. They marched in pursuit of the most fundamental 
right, the right preservative of all others--the right to vote.
  What they received that day, however, were brutal beatings from 
police batons as State troopers turned them back and chased them down. 
More than 50 of the demonstrators were injured. John Lewis was beaten 
unconscious and nearly killed.
  Ten days later, Federal district court Judge Frank M. Johnson, Jr., 
granted protection to the activists, ruling that they were permitted to 
march from Selma to the State capitol in Montgomery. In the historic 
order he issued, Judge Johnson wrote: ``The law is clear that the right 
to petition one's government for the redress of grievances may be 
exercised in large groups. Indeed, where, as here, minorities have been 
harassed, coerced and intimidated, group association may be the only 
realistic way of exercising such rights. . . . These rights may be 
exercised by marching, even along public highways.''
  Days later, the march proceeded with a crowd of approximately 3,200 
marchers--which swelled to 25,000 by the time they reached the capitol. 
Within months, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act 
into law--guaranteeing that the right to vote would not be restricted 
through clever schemes, like poll taxes and literacy tests, devised to 
keep African Americans from voting.
  Last month, the foot soldiers of the 1965 voting rights marches were 
recognized with a Congressional Gold Medal. John Lewis, who since 1987 
has been Congressman John Lewis, along with Reverend Frederick D. 
Reese, accepted the medal on behalf of the foot soldiers. At the 
ceremony, Congressman Lewis said: ``It was their determined marching 
feet that led to the passage of the Voting Rights Act. . . . They were 
just ordinary people with an extraordinary vision, to build a true 
democracy in America.''
  In 2005, I was proud to join Congressman Lewis on a trip to Selma for 
a ceremonial walk across the Edmund Pettus Bridge to mark the 40th 
anniversary of Bloody Sunday. As we marched in recognition of that 
extraordinary vision to build a true democracy, we celebrated the 
marchers' achievement--a bill that has often been called the most 
significant civil rights law ever passed by Congress. Little did we 
know that, 8 years later, in 2013, the Supreme Court would strike down 
a major provision of that landmark legislation.
  In Shelby County v. Holder, on a 5-4 vote, a divided Supreme Court 
struck down the provision of the Voting Rights Act that required 
certain jurisdictions to preclear any changes to their voting laws with 
the Department of Justice. This decision effectively gutted the Voting 
Rights Act. Since the decision, States like Texas, North Carolina, 
Alabama, and Mississippi have put in place restrictive State voting 
laws--which all too often have a disproportionate impact on lower-
income and minority voters.
  In order to truly honor the foot soldiers of Bloody Sunday and repair 
the damage done by Shelby County, Congress must restore the Voting 
Rights Act by passing the bipartisan Voting Rights Advancement Act. 
This bill, which Senator Leahy, Senator Coons, and I introduced last 
year, would ensure that the Federal Government is once again able to 
fully protect the fundamental right to vote.
  I wish that, 51 years after Bloody Sunday, America had reached a 
point where the protections of the Voting Rights Act were no longer 
necessary. But we have not, and the Voting Rights Act is still very 
much needed today.
  In 2006, Congress reauthorized the Voting Rights Act with an 
overwhelming bipartisan vote in both the House and the Senate. It is 
time to once again come together on a bipartisan basis and recognize 
the ongoing challenges that minority voters all too frequently face. 
Congress must take action to repair the Voting Rights Act and ensure 
the legacy of those who marched 51 years ago.

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