Watson Coleman Marks the 50th Anniversary of "Bloody Sunday," Selma to Montgomery Marches

Statement

Today, Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (NJ-12) joined Americans across the country in honoring the 50th Anniversary of "Bloody Sunday," when civil rights leaders marched across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama on their way to Montgomery to protest the "Jim Crow" laws that kept Black Americans from the ballot box and were brutally attacked by Alabama State Troopers. The March 7, 1965 march sparked national attention that culminated in the passage of the Voting Rights Act.

"On the 50th anniversary of Bloody Sunday and the Selma to Montgomery Marches, our entire nation celebrates the legacy of the civil rights leaders that helped push us forward," Watson Coleman said. "We honor Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Congressman John Lewis, and the others we know so well. But we must also remember that those marches, and the entire civil rights movement, were a coalition that included women like Amelia Boynton, Annie Lee Cooper and Diane Nash. Its leaders mattered, but so did average people, like Viola Liuzzo, who had the courage to dedicate their lives to the cause. Without their involvement, the images that moved the nation from indifference to compassion may never have been seen.

"The unity of the men and women on that bridge, in the face of brutality and ignorance, gave the country the strength to tackle one of its greatest injustices. We're still fighting many of those battles today -- and that unity is more important now than ever. We must all take up the charge of those who fought before us, and honor their legacies by continuing to fight for equality and economic opportunity for every American."

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