the Edmund Pettus Bridge on Bloody Sunday anniversary

Vice President Kamala Harris today called on Congress to pass federal voting rights legislation before walking across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama, to mark the 57th anniversary of Bloody Sunday, a key moment in the civil rights moment.

"A record number of people cast their ballots in the 2020 elections. It was a triumph of democracy in many ways.

But not everyone saw it that way. Some saw it as a threat," Harris said, lamenting the raft of what she called
"un-American" laws enacted in GOP-led states across the country that make it more difficult to vote.

The vice president said she and President Joe Biden "have put the full power of the executive branch behind our shared effort" while criticizing Republican lawmakers for voting to block passage of the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act and the Freedom to Vote Act.

"If we all continue to work together, to march together, to fight together, we will secure the freedom to vote," Harris said.At the top of her remarks, Harris made note of Russia'sunprovoked invasion of Ukraine, calling it "a reminder that freedom and democracy can never be taken for granted, by any of us."

The first Black and first South Asian woman to hold the vice presidency, Harris has attended previous anniversary events in Selma.

During virtual remarks at a commemoration service last year, she recalled joining the late Rep. John Lewis -- a civil rights icon who helped lead the 1965 march -- during the annual walk across the bridge three years earlier. "I was with him on what would be his final walk across the Edmund Pettus Bridge. And I will hold that memory forever in my heart," Harris said at the time.

 Biden signed an executive order aimed at expanding voting access on last year's Bloody Sunday anniversary.

Last edited by Spunky (3/06/2022 8:35 pm)