Selma to Montgomery Voting Rights March

Floor Speech

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Ms. CLARKE of New York. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlelady from Ohio
(Mrs. Beatty) for extending this time to me, and I want to also thank
the gentlelady from Illinois (Ms. Kelly) and the gentleman from New
Jersey (Mr. Payne).

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my colleagues in the Congressional Black
Caucus for hosting this evening's Special Order and this extension this
evening.

Today I proudly rise to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the
historic events of the nonviolent protests that took place in Selma,
Alabama, and to recognize their importance in igniting and fueling the
civil rights movement that brought an end to the practice of Jim Crow
racial segregation by law in America and voting rights legislation that
guaranteed every American citizen the right to vote.

It is a privilege to represent the Ninth District of New York in
offering tribute to the historic people of conscience that walked the
Edmund Pettus Bridge on March 7, 1965, known as Bloody Sunday. The
march from Selma to Montgomery in 1965 included more than 600 women and
men who walked from the historic Brown Chapel AME Church to the State
capital of Alabama.

They marched for the right to vote, the freedom and human dignity
that had been denied to them. They marched to end the evil practice of
segregation and the violent terrorism to which they were subjected on
an everyday basis, to remove from our society the poison of racism and racial discrimination.

However, at the Edmund Pettus Bridge this peaceful protest was met
with tear gas, police batons, police dogs, and hatred and violence.
Images of this tragedy were broadcast across America, opening the eyes
of millions of citizens to the brutality and injustices that African
American communities, especially in the South, had experienced every
day.

Five months after Bloody Sunday, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 was
signed into law on August 6, 1965, by President Lyndon B. Johnson,
prohibiting racial discrimination in voting. I was 9 months at that
time. Sadly, the right to vote remains under threat in the United
States.

Just imagine, five decades later, the disparate treatment and
discrimination, the trampling of the civil rights and civil liberties
of vulnerable communities of color, black and Hispanic, Latino
Americans, continues to be a blood-soaked stain on the Star-Spangled
Banner in the minds of many Americans.

In June 2013, the Supreme Court ruled that section 4(b) of the Voting
Rights Act was unconstitutional, effectively undermining our ability to
protect the right to vote and ensure unfettered access to the ballot.

We, the members of the CBC, will not stand silent and allow the
partisanship in this House to reverse these gains made through the
bloodshed and the lives martyred to erase from the law books those
rights for which many fought and died.

Mr. Speaker, while we have made great progress since 1965, it is all
relative. As long as systemic racism remains in the hearts and minds of
some Americans, there is still much work to be done so that the blood,
sweat, and tears shed for the freedom and justice in 1965 and every day
since will not have been in vain.

The courage it took for our colleague Representative John Lewis and
the countless and nameless Americans to face an angry State-sponsored
mob so that we can all enjoy the freedoms of our country must never be
forgotten. We must remain vigilant and continuously fight for equal
rights for all people, regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation,
or social background. Until then, Mr. Speaker, the struggle continues.

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