[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 18 (Wednesday, January 31, 2024)]
[House]
[Page H327]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
ACKNOWLEDGING THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF GEORGE SALLIE
(Ms. SEWELL asked and was given permission to address the House for 1
minute.)
Ms. SEWELL. Mr. Speaker, I rise to honor the life and legacy of Mr.
George Sallie who, at the age of 94, was among the oldest living Foot
Soldiers from Bloody Sunday before his passing on January 18, 2024.
An Alabama native and the son of sharecroppers, Mr. Sallie dedicated
his life to the betterment of his community.
A Korean war veteran who served honorably, Mr. Sallie risked life and
limb to protect our American ideals at a time when our Nation refused
to address the injustice of segregation.
After his military service, he became involved in the civil rights
movement, a path that led him on that fateful day, March 7, 1965,
otherwise known as Bloody Sunday. It was on that fateful day that he
and his fellow marchers like John Lewis were brutalized by State
troopers for their peaceful pursuit of racial equality.
Mr. Sallie's life stands as a testament to the power of ordinary
Americans to achieve extraordinary social change. He never missed a
bridge crossing commemoration, and I was honored to stand alongside him
and President Biden last year as he marched across the Edmund Pettus
Bridge for one last time.
I ask my colleagues to join me in celebrating the inspiring life and
legacy of Mr. Sallie. May his sacrifices and those of the Foot Soldiers
not be in vain.
Congress should take up the John Robert Lewis Voting Rights
Advancement Act and pass it now.
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