The publication is reproduced in full below:
COMMEMORATING 56TH ANNIVERSARY OF BLOODY SUNDAY
______
speech of
HON. ALCEE L. HASTINGS
of florida
in the house of representatives
Monday, March 8, 2021
Mr. HASTINGS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay honor to the legacy of our late colleague, and my dear friend, Congressman John Lewis. This year marks the 56th Anniversary of the Bloody Sunday March in Selma, Alabama, over the Edmund Pettus Bridge. It is vital that we pay homage to Congressman Lewis and to the hundreds of individuals who marched beside him to protect the voices of the many, as well as to remember the history, legacy, and increasing importance of the infamous Bloody Sunday March.
On March 7, 1965, about six-hundred peaceful protesters, including a 25-year-old John Lewis, were violently attacked by Alabama State troopers while attempting to cross the Edmund Pettus Bridge to begin the peaceful march from Selma to Montgomery. The ongoing Civil Rights Movement led nonviolent demonstrators to the bridge that Sunday with the risk of being met with opposition from law enforcement--but the outcome was much worse. Protesters were tear-gassed, clubbed, spat on, whipped, trampled by horses, and ultimately degraded by the police. The abhorrent attacks, which were seen on television and in newspapers, shocked the nation.
The events of that day mobilized Congress to pass the bipartisan Voting Rights Act of 1965--outlawing discriminatory voting laws which silenced the voices of Black Americans. Fifty-six years later, we celebrate the ``good trouble'' Congressman Lewis created that Sunday, and the decades to follow, embarking our nation down a path toward a more perfect union. Bloody Sunday is a dark moment in our country's history, but it should not be left in the past. The increasing importance of memorializing that day draws on the impact it made on our citizens as well as our legislative body. This Congress should continue to implement the principles of our late colleague and uphold his legacy.
Mr. Speaker, I am so privileged to join the Congressional Black Caucus in its First Annual John Lewis Special Order Hour. Please join me in commemorating his leadership and bravery on the Edmund Pettus Bridge fifty-six years ago. May he Rest in Power, a well-earned peace, and may his memory be a blessing to all of us who loved him.
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SOURCE: Congressional Record Vol. 167, No. 47
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