Vice President Kamala Harris and many others walk across the Edmund Pettus Bridge commemorating the 59th anniversary of the Bloody Sunday voting rights march in 1965. amental freedoms, including the right to vote, are under attack in America even today.
She criticized attempts to restrict voting, including limits on absentee voting and early voting, and said the nation is again at a crossroad. Harris drew parallels between those who worked to stifle the Civil Rights Movement and “extremists” she said are trying to enact restrictions on voting, education and reproductive care.
Earlier Sunday, Attorney General Merrick Garland spoke at a Selma church service marking the anniversary of the attack by Alabama law officers on civil rights demonstrators. He said recent court decisions and certain state legislation have endangered voting rights in much of the nation. The march and Garland’s speech were among dozens of events during the Selma Bridge Crossing Jubilee, which began Thursday and culminated Sunday.
U.S. Rep. James Clyburn, a Democrat of South Carolina who is leading a pilgrimage to Selma, said he is seeking to “remind people that we are celebrating an event that started this country on a better road toward a more perfect union,” but the right to vote is still not guaranteed.