-21st Century Leader Justin Morton speaks at Martin & Coretta King Unity BreakfastVice -President Kamala Harris addressing crowd of thousands at Bridge in Selma
-L to R: John Zippert, Coumba Toure Ba, Maria Diarra Keita, Carol Zippert
-US Representative James Clyburn with other congressional colleagues at Unity Breakfast
-Maria Diarra Keita and Faya Rose Toure at Unity Breakfast
-During their medal ceremony in the Olympic Stadium in Mexico City on October 16, 1968, two African-American athletes, Tommie Smith and John Carlos, each raised a black-gloved fist during the playing of the US national anthem, “The Star-Spangled Banner”. Shown above Tommie Smith seated and Hank Sanders at Unity Breakfast.
Speaking at the foot of the bridge in Selma, on the 59th anniversary of ‘Bloody Sunday’ in 1965, Vice President Kamala Harris called for an immediate ceasefire in the Israeli-Hamas War in Gaza and for a renewal of the voting rights struggle in America.
Harris said that she had to begin her speech with the “humanitarian crisis in Gaza. Children are dying. Too many innocent people have been killed. People are starving, conditions are inhumane.” She said, “While Israeli security is our goal, we must call for an immediate ceasefire, to allow for assistance to flow to the people of Gaza, who have been suffering in a war between a terrorist organization, Hamas, and the Israeli government.”
Harris urged both sides in the war to come to the table and accept an immediate ceasefire, which would allow humanitarian aid to flow into the beleaguered people of Gaza and result in a return of the hostages taken by Hamas at the beginning of the war on October 7, 2023.
The Vice President then shifted her attention to the on-going voting rights struggle in America. She said she had returned to the bridge in Selma, with other members of the Biden Administration cabinet and administration, to celebrate the victory for voting rights, equality and overcoming fear and violence, that the original marchers 59 years ago had endured.
She noted the retreat on voting rights and sections 4,5, and 2 of the 1965 Voting Rights Act since the 2013 Supreme Court decision in Shelby vs. Holder and subsequent decisions. She lamented the hundreds of state legislative voter suppression laws that have occurred since that time.
Harris endorsed efforts to pass in Congress the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act and the Freedom to Vote Act, which would restore and strengthen the voting rights protections of the 1965 Voting Rights Act.
“We must continue our struggle for the sacred right to vote in the face of our opponents who want to destroy the basis of our democracy and democratic institutions,” said Harris.
The Vice President was accompanied to Selma by Attorney General Merrick Garland, Secretary of HUD Marcia Fudge, Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona, Tanya J. Bradsher – Deputy Secretary of Veterans Affairs,
Xochiti Torres Small – Deputy Secretary of Agriculture, Kristen Clarke – Deputy Secretary of the Department of Justice, and others. Several of these officials gave greetings and made remarks before the Vice President spoke.
Local Dallas County officials and civil rights leaders including former State Senator Hank Sanders and Charles Steele addressed the crowd as well. After her speech, Vice President Harris joined others in leading the reenactment of the march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama.
The bridge reenactment was one of more than forty events held in Selma during the weeklong “Bridge Crossing Jubilee” that drew thousands to the largest commemoration of voting rights, civil rights, and social justice in America. Persons who wish to support the ongoing work of the Bridge Crossing Jubilee in Selma, leading up to next year’s 60th anniversary, should Text 53555 Selma60, to contribute and get on the invitation list.