Sunday was the 56th anniversary of the first Selma to Montgomery civil rights march, which is indelibly associated with the late Georgia Representative John Lewis. The date is better known as “Bloody Sunday” for the violent attack on marchers on the Edmund Pettus Bridge by Alabama State Troopers and a white mob recruited by Dallas County Sheriff Jim Clark.
Lewis, who was then an organizer for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), was beaten so badly that he suffered a skull fracture. Scenes from the Pettus Bridge were seen by the entire country on national television and in 1965 the Civil Rights Act of 1965 was passed. The Act covered, among other things, voting rights. Now, with hundreds of voter suppression bills being filed in 43 states, voting rights are at risk as never before.
Marking the anniversary last Sunday, President Biden noted, “Let’s remember those who came before us as a bridge to our history so we don’t forget its pain, and as a bridge to our future so we never lose hope.”
Biden also chose the highly symbolic date to sign an executive order to protect voting rights, addressing Republican charges of overreach and defending the federal interest: “In passing the National Voter Registration Act of 1993, the Congress found that it is the duty of Federal, State, and local governments to promote the exercise of the fundamental right to vote.” Biden’s executive order enumerates a number of actions federal agencies will take to ensure that access at the polls, including by federal prisoners, is not denied.
