'Selma was a reckoning': Biden marks voting rights anniversary in Alabama

Editor's note: This article has been updated to clarify that the Rev. Jesse Jackson arrived to Selma in the days following Bloody Sunday in 1965.

President Joe Biden on Sunday told a crowd in storm-battered Selma that the march for voting rights continues today, 58 years after the events of Bloody Sunday jolted the nation into securing the Black right to vote and providing equal access for all.

Biden also led the annual march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge, walking the same path that the late U.S. Rep. John Lewis did on March 7, 1965, and that the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. continued two weeks later.

“No matter how hard some people try, we can’t just choose what we want to know and not what we should know,” Biden said. “Everyone should know the truth of Selma.

“Selma was a reckoning,” Biden said. “The right to vote, to have your vote counted, is the threshold of democracy.”

The president said voting rights are inextricably intertwined with economic justice and civil rights for Black Americans, saying he and Vice President Kamala Harris have been committed to protecting the right to vote in free and fair elections.

More:'We are those who persevere': Selma sermon urges all to fight for voting rights

Honoring history

Sun beat down on thousands of attendees as they crossed the bridge in peace, to honor the struggle of those who marched into violence and tear gas 58 years ago. Some of them were there that day in 1965.

Selma’s original foot soldiers, who experienced Bloody Sunday for themselves, still show up in waning numbers for the annual celebration. Many civil rights activists, like the Rev. Jesse Jackson, haven’t missed a commemorative march since 1965 — though they did go virtual in 2021 because of the pandemic.

Charles Mauldin, an original foot soldier, introduced the president, emphasizing the importance of the people who marched that first day in 1965.

“Had it not been for foot soldiers, there would not have been a movement,” Mauldin said. “Where there’s common determination, there’s common power.”

Past presidents have attended the Selma Bridge Crossing Jubilee as well, but Biden is the first president in attendance since Barack Obama’s visit in 2015.

Still, this wasn’t Biden’s first Jubilee. He attended the ceremony in 2013 as vice president and again in 2020 while on the campaign trail for president.

'As long as it takes': Biden on the Selma tornado

Some Alabamians believe Biden returned this year because Selma is hurting. Almost two months ago, a strong tornado swept through the city, tearing away roofs, windows and cars as it went. Selma’s major historic sites were left unharmed, but its people weren’t.

With hundreds of homes damaged and dozens of families displaced, the storm left Selma bordering on an emergency housing crisis.

“President Biden and I have discussed Selma. I have shared with him our vision, direction, opportunities and our needs,” Selma Mayor James Perkins Jr. said Sunday before Biden took the stage. “We remain Selma strong.”

In the weeks since the storm, Selma has slowly but surely been repairing itself with local, federal and nonprofit support. Perkins thanked Biden for approving 100% federal reimbursement of eligible disaster recovery efforts.

“To date, we’ve provided $8 million in recovery, and we’re just getting started,” Biden said. “We’ll be here as long as it takes.”

Biden spoke about broader topics, including support for “the people of Africa,” broadband expansion in Dallas County and water infrastructure repairs in the Black Belt. He also talked about beating big pharma and his mission to ban assault weapons.

When Biden first announced his visit earlier this week, U.S. Rep. Terri Sewell said his presence would send a clear message that the community is not alone. Indeed, loud cheers erupted as Biden walked off stage. People yelled, “Bring it home, Biden.”

“I want you to know that during this time of crisis, we need your help,” Sewell said Sunday, addressing Biden. “We need everything in Selma, Alabama. We are committed to not only rebuilding better and fairer, but to reimagine what Selma could be.”

Biden’s Bloody Sunday executive order

Before making his way to Selma on Sunday, Biden in a White House statement emphasized his commitment to protecting voting rights.

While campaigning for president, Biden promised to support legislation to bolster the protection of voting rights, and in 2021, he supported the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act. The legislation passed in the U.S. House of Representatives, but it failed in the Democrat-majority Senate.

On Sunday he reiterated his support for the act, which included provisions to restrict gerrymandering of congressional districts and to make the campaign finance system more transparent.

On last year’s anniversary of Bloody Sunday, Biden signed an executive order directing all government agencies to “promote access to voting.” The White House statement outlined the impact of that order and resources available.

Among them: The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services is working to update its policy guidance on best practices for voter registration services, the U.S. Department of Education will soon link to vote.gov on its website, and the Department of the Interior is designated as the voter registration agency.

Prior to Biden’s arrival in Selma, the crowd carefully watched every person of importance cross in front of the bridge, headed to a space for VIPs. Those whom the crowd cheered on included U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters, the Rev. Al Sharpton, the Rev. William Barber and Montgomery Mayor Steven Reed.

How the anniversary ended

When speeches stopped and the presidential motorcade drove off, Selma was still there. Its people still celebrated the city’s importance and the powerful movement that was born in those streets.

Many attendees moseyed their way back across the bridge, back toward the noise. The street festival still bustled with music, children playing carnival games and families buying hotdogs or funnel cakes. Some people headed to their cars, trying to rush to an award ceremony happening at the Selma Center for Nonviolence, Truth & Reconciliation.

The country’s eyes were on Selma on Sunday — for the president, for the history of voting rights, for the tornado damage — but as those eyes turn away, the city and its people are still there, still rebuilding.

Hadley Hitson covers the rural South for the Montgomery Advertiser and Report for America. She can be reached at hhitson@gannett.com. To support her work, subscribe to the Advertiser or donate to Report for America.

This article originally appeared on Montgomery Advertiser: Biden honors Bloody Sunday, voting rights anniversary in Selma