Rep. Terri Sewell Leads Congressional Civil Rights Pilgrimage
Each year members of congress make a pilgrimage to Alabama to visit key sites of the civil right movement and to participate in the "Bloody Sunday" Edmund Pettus Bridge cross recreation.
West Alabama Democrat Congresswoman Terri Sewell kicked off the weekend pilgrimage by welcoming he colleagues to the historic 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham.
She told the congressional delegation that the weekend will be one of, "...meaningful
reflection, rededication, and renewal."
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The tour began last night at the 16th Street Baptist Church with a tribute to the four little girls killed in the bombing of the church in 1063. The group also remembered the significant part played in the movement by the late Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth and other "Foot Soldiers" of the movement.
The group is traveling today to Montgomery where they will visit the home to Rosa Parks, the Freedom Riders Museum and Equal Justice Initiative. They will also take part in the annual NAACP Gala.
The weekend concludes Sunday with the delegation attending the 61st Bridge Cross Jubilee finally in Selma. They will recreate the bridge crossing where voting rights marchers were attacked by Billy Club wielding Alabama State Troopers and Dallas County Sheriff's deputies.
During a house speech, Sewell addressed what she sees as the importance of the trip to her hometown..."This year’s pilgrimage could not come at a more critical time in our nation's history. As we speak, officials at the highest levels of government are waging a concerted and coordinated effort to attack the rights and freedoms secured by our foremothers and our forefathers. They are attempting to erase our history, to roll back our progress, to silence our voices, and to dilute our power.
"Meanwhile, the fate of the Voting Rights Act of 1965—the crown jewel of the Civil Rights Movement—hangs in the balance, as the Supreme Court considers a case that could gut its remaining protections."
Thursday, Sewell and other Democrats submitted H.R. 14, the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, to end what they consider an erosion of voting rights in the U.S.
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