[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 2]
[Senate]
[Pages 2869-2870]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                             BLOODY SUNDAY

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, forty-eight years ago today, a young man by 
the name of John Lewis set out on a march across Alabama, from Selma to 
Montgomery. By his side were a few hundred freedom-loving men and women 
calling for an end to discrimination violence against African 
Americans.
  Today, John Lewis is a distinguished Member of the U.S. House of 
Representatives, but back then when he was a young civil rights leader, 
he was determined to fight injustice and force the United States to 
live up to its founding principle that all people are created equal.
  I had the good fortune to go--not this year but a year or two ago--
down to Selma and participate in this reenactment. John Lewis was 
there, as I saw on TV a few days ago. It was a cold day when I went 
there, and you saw them all bundled a few days ago. And on the day of 
the march, you see the TV pictures of John Lewis with a long coat, and 
he had a backpack. I asked him what was in the backpack. He said, I 
thought I would be arrested and I would be put in jail. I had in that 
backpack an apple and a book I was reading.
  After being viciously beaten, John Lewis doesn't know what happened 
to his apple, his book, or his backpack. But what a legend he has 
become. He wasn't arrested that day. Instead, John and the peaceful 
protesters by his side were met a few blocks into their march by State 
troopers with dogs, fire hoses, and clubs, and they used every one of 
them against these marchers. Many of the marchers, including John 
Lewis, were viciously beaten.
  The terrible violence of that day, known as Bloody Sunday, was 
broadcast across the country. For the first time the bloody reality of 
the struggle for equal rights was beamed into America's living rooms. 
Bloody Sunday marked the turning point in the civil rights movement as 
Americans cried out against the injustice and bloodshed they saw on the 
television screens.
  Later that month protesters finally completed that march from Selma 
to

[[Page 2870]]

Montgomery, and more than 25,000 patriots converged on the Alabama 
State Capitol Building. From the steps of the Alabama capitol, Dr. 
Martin Luther King spoke of the power of peaceful resistance. This is 
what he said:

       Selma, Alabama, became a shining moment in the conscience 
     of man. If the worst in American life lurked in its dark 
     street, the best of American instincts arose passionately 
     from across the nation to overcome it.

  Six months later President Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act of 
1965, and that is where Senator Thurmond, whom I had the good fortune 
of serving with here, took to the floor and gave that speech for 24 
hours.
  I may disagree with Strom Thurmond, but he had a right to talk. Rand 
Paul had a right to talk.
  The Supreme Court last week considered striking sections of the law 
barring areas with a history of discrimination from changing voting 
practices without Federal approval. That is what the Voting Rights Act 
was all about. Critics say those protections are no longer necessary. 
But anyone who waited hours to cast a ballot in 2012 knows that is not 
true. A 102-year-old woman waited 8 hours to vote. And anyone who has 
watched the State legislature pass laws designed to intimidate eligible 
voters and keep the poor, minorities, and the elderly from the polls 
knows the fight for freedom is not over.
  America has made great strides to eradicate racism, thanks to legends 
such as John Lewis. But, together, we must guard that progress with 
vigilance, keeping in mind the sacrifices made by so many 48 years ago 
today.

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