Selma
Today is the 60th anniversary of Bloody Sunday, March 7, 1965, when peaceful protesters who supported the right of Black people to vote marched across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama, only to be met with violence. State troopers, some on horseback, used tear gas on the protestors and beat them to the ground. Among those who were seriously injured was future Georgia Congressman John Lewis, who was hospitalized along with 16 of his fellow protestors. Lewis’ skull was fractured. He was lucky to survive. Not everyone who marched that day did.
The August following events in Selma, President Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act.
It’s an incredible irony that the Supreme Court case, Shelby County v. Holder, that gutted the Voting Rights Act in 2013 also came out of Alabama.
The truth is that progress is not linear. Rights, once won, must be maintained. We have to continue to fight for them, and the right to vote, which is so central to being a functional democracy, is critical. But, as we all know, it’s under threat again, just like it was 60 years ago. Long lines or closed polling stations may seem innocuous, but when they are occurring nationwide, largely in majority Black or Democratic population centers, the intent is clear.
Congress has refused to act to protect the right to vote since the Shelby County case. The Supreme Court said it was up to them—that they needed to update the criteria used to require states and jurisdictions to submit new rules and practices they adopt for elections for preclearance to ensure they don’t have discriminatory intent or impact. They have steadfastly refused to do that despite the introduction of measures designed to update the Voting Rights Act in every Congress since that decision came down.
This week, Selma’s Congresswoman Terri Sewell introduced yet another measure. She reported that “The tragic reality is that while every Democrat in Congress has signed onto this legislation, not a single Republican has joined us.”
It is a sad state of affairs. The Voting Rights Act was successively reupped during Republican administrations with strong bipartisan majorities over the years between 1965 and 2013. Now, Republicans lean on fake allegations of voter fraud to try and prevent people they think won’t vote for them from voting.
Selma, every year, is a rallying cry for people who love democracy and believe it’s worth fighting for.
I still believe that. As challenging as it is in this moment, for the heroes of Selma, we have a lot left to do.
We’re in this together,
Joyce
It would wonderful to see the Voting Rights Act passed once and for all and that bridge renamed for the great John Lewis.
Thank you, Joyce, for reminding us of Selma and of the ongoing fight we must engage ourselves in to pursue justice and fairness in civil rights and voting rights. Your advocacy matters. Our advocacy matters. Al Green's advocacy matters. Onward.