Biden's Executive Orders and Immigration Policies

Floor Speech

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Ms. WILLIAMS of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I am here tonight as a daughter of Alabama, as the Congresswoman representing Georgia's Fifth Congressional District in the seat that was held by Congressman John Lewis for over 30 years.

Mr. Speaker, Congressman John Lewis already laid the blueprint for us. We are here as the Congressional Black Caucus to honor him 56 years after Bloody Sunday. We have an obligation to get in good trouble and continue Congressman Lewis' legacy.

As Congressman Lewis told us, when we see something that is not right, when we see something that is not fair, when we see something that is not just, we have an obligation to speak up, to stand up, to find a way to get in the way. As we continue the work for the people on this floor, we will do that in the legacy of John Robert Lewis. Thus, our power, that is our message.

Mr. Speaker, yesterday marked the 56th anniversary of Bloody Sunday, the day my friend, mentor and predecessor, the late Congressman John Lewis and hundreds of demonstrators nearly lost their lives attempting to peacefully cross the Edmund Pettus Bridge in the interest of voting rights.

The images of Black men, women being brutally beaten by police officers wielding billy clubs and tear gas are still haunting. The violence sent many of the activists to the hospital because of the extent of their injuries. Congressman Lewis often remarked that he ``shed a little blood'' on that bridge that day, when his skull was crack by state troopers--people who were supposed to protect and serve. Why? Because, people who look like him, look like me, wanted the right to vote, the right to have a voice in our democracy.

Bloody Sunday is still one of the darkest days in our nation's history, but we commemorate it because the courage and the violence Congressman Lewis and the over 600 marchers endured put the atrocities of this nation centerstage for the world to see and served as a catalyst for the Voting Rights Act being signed into law.

More than five decades later, after that horrific display of intimidation and overt suppression and signing of the VRA, we are still fighting for voting rights for communities of color. It is shameful, that the same frustrations our ancestors felt--being denied at the ballot box for failing a literacy test, having to travel far distances to vote only to be told they were at the wrong polling location, having to pay a poll tax just to vote--are the same frustrations with our democratic process that people of color are experiencing today. These tactics are once again rearing their ugly head and it is disheartening that some of the same forces are trying to impose barriers to the ballot box using old tactics, new tricks.

In Georgia, legislators just passed a bill that restricts access to absentee ballots, restricts ballot dropbox locations and early voting hours. We saw in the 2020 election how poll closures created long lines in Georgia. And, now, to add insult to injury, Georgia lawmakers are proposing making it a crime to give people food and water while they stand hours in line to vote--food and water! It is shameful and inhumane.

There is not a day that goes by that I don't think about Congressman Lewis. We all miss him dearly. This year, the Bloody Sunday Jubilee weekend was not the same without him. However, it is bittersweet that he is not here to witness the country he loved, the country he had such high hopes for still making it harder--not easier--for people to vote.

But as the first Black woman to represent Georgia's 5th District, a seat formally held by Congressman Lewis and Ambassador Andrew Young, I came to Congress to assure my constituents and the American people I will not let the trauma suffered on March 7, 1965 or battles fought for the sake for voting rights since then be in vain. The spirit of Congressman Lewis lives in all of us and we will protect his legacy. With our power, our message.

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