President Joe Biden is expected to address attendees at the 58th anniversary of Bloody Sunday in Selma, Alabama on March 5. On an annual basis, marchers walk across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in downtown Selma to commemorate the event that took place 1965, the year a 25-year-old John Lewis led 600 protestors on a march from Selma before being brutally beaten by local police officers.
In addition to reflecting on the historical moment, Biden is also expected to discuss the issue of voting rights. The John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act of 2021 has been stalled in the Senate since September 2021, according to congress.gov.
Past notable figures who have attended the commemoration include Barack Obama, Oprah, John Legend, Common and Ava DuVernay. Recently, Keisha Lance Bottoms, Atlanta’s former mayor and the White House’s current Senior Advisor for Public Engagement spoke to rolling out about the commemoration.
What are some of the things people should expect from the President’s trip to Selma?
It’s so important the President is going. He’s been there as a Senator, he’s been there as Vice President, and at this moment in time, it’s important we have the President reflect on our history.
He’s going to remind us our history can’t be erased, and it’s helped shape who we are, and it will help shape who we are in the future. So the President will give a speech in Selma, and you’ll see him cross the bridge in Selma. He had such great respect and regard for Congressman John Lewis, who at 25 years old if you can believe that when led 600 marchers across that bridge in Selma.
He led them knowing they faced the danger of knowing they could lose their lives. In many ways, that moment, and the images of what happened in Selma, helped turn the corner for civil rights in America. So it’s extremely important the President is going, and he’s honored to be there to honor the legacy of John Lewis and the other protesters who crossed that bridge.
What does Bloody Sunday mean to the White House staff?
There are pictures up in the east wing of the White House of civil rights leaders meeting with then-President Lyndon Johnson, about civil rights in America. All of this is such a huge part of our history and so much of what Dr. [Martin Luther] King was trying to achieve.
If you look at it like a puzzle, then Selma was a huge part of that puzzle. There were people in Selma who were trying to register to vote, there were people who had been killed in Selma. The visual that came out of Selma of a 25-year-old John Lewis leading 600 peaceful protesters across the Edmund Pettus Bridge, and them being attacked and brutalized really helped change the conversation and the way people across this country looked at the struggle for civil rights.
