Vice President Kamala Harris leads Bloody Sunday march re-enactment in Selma
Vice President Kamala Harris helped lead marchers across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma on Sunday, in tribute to Bloody Sunday and the voting rights marches of 1965.
She and Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff arrived at Maxwell Air Force Base, where U.S. Rep. Terri Sewell (D-Alabama) Montgomery Mayor Steven Reed and Selma Mayor James Perkins, Jr., greeted them.
She told thousands gathered for the 59th anniversary of Bloody Sunday that fundamental freedoms are under attack in America even today.
“Today, we know our fight for freedom is not over, because in this moment we are witnessing a full on attack on hard-fought, hard-won freedoms, starting with the freedom that unlocks all others, the freedom to vote,” Harris said.
She criticized attempts to restrict voting, including limits on early voting, and said the nation is again at a crossroad.
“What kind of country do we want to live in? Do we want to live in a country of freedom, liberty and justice? Or a country of injustice, hate and fear?” Harris asked, encouraging people to answer with their vote.
The Rev. Al Sharpton, Vice President Kamala Harris and Attorney Ben Crump walk and sing across the Edmund Pettus Bridge with others commemorating the 59th anniversary of the Bloody Sunday voting rights march in 1965, Sunday, March 3, 2024, in Selma, Ala. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)
Harris paid tribute to the civil rights marchers who walked across the bridge on March 7, 1965, on their way to the Alabama Capitol in Montgomery. They were attacked by law enforcement officers after they crossed the bridge. A successful march for voting rights was completed later that month. The attacks led to the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland spoke at a Selma church service. He said recent court decisions and certain state legislation have endangered voting rights in much of the nation.
“Since those (court) decisions, there has been a dramatic increase in legislative measures that make it harder for millions of eligible voters to vote and to elect representatives of their choice,” Garland told worshippers at Tabernacle Baptist Church, the site of one of the first mass meetings of the voting rights movement.
“Those measures include practices and procedures that make voting more difficult; redistricting maps that disadvantage minorities; and changes in voting administration that diminish the authority of locally elected or nonpartisan election administrators,” he said. “Such measures threaten the foundation of our system of government.”
The annual Bridge Crossing Jubilee is a frequent stop for Democratic politicians paying homage to the voting rights movement. Last year, President Biden visited. In 2015, for the 50th anniversary celebration, both President Barack Obama and former President George W. Bush were there together.
(Copyright 2024 The Associated Press contributed to this report. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.)
