SRES70sMAR4

TheWeekInCongress.com

Week Ending March 4, 2005

Senate Resolution 70 commemorating the 40^th anniversary of Bloody Sunday.

BRIEF

It was March 7, 1965 when 600 civil rights demonstrators marching in Selma, Alabama were attack with clubs and teargas by local and state law police. Included among the victims was current Congressman John Lewis who was beaten unconscious.

The marchers were protesting the death of Jimmy Lee Jackson killed two weeks prior while trying to protect his mother and grandmother from an attacking police officer. The demonstrators were also protesting the murder of Herbert Lee who was killed while attending voter education classes in Mississippi and other actions taken to dissuade African Americans from voting or registering to vote.

Sponsor: Senator William H. Frist (R-TN)

Vote: Passed Senate by Unanimous Consent (Mar. 3, 2005)

Cost to the taxpayers: No discernible cost.

MORE INFORMATION

S. Res. 70

Whereas March 7, 2005, marks the 40th anniversary of Bloody Sunday, the day on which some 600 civil rights marchers were demonstrating for African American voting rights;

Whereas Jimmy Lee Jackson was killed February 26, 1965, 2 weeks prior to Bloody Sunday, at a civil rights demonstration while trying to protect his mother and grandfather from a law enforcement officer;

Whereas Congressman John Lewis and the late Hosea Williams led these marchers across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama where they were attacked with billy clubs and tear gas by State and local lawmen;

Whereas the circumstances leading to Selma's Bloody Sunday represented a set of grave injustices for African Americans which included--

(1) the murder of Herbert Lee of Liberty, Mississippi for attending voter education classes;

(2) the cutting off of Federal food relief by State authorities in 2 of the poorest counties in Mississippi in order to intimidate residents from registering to vote; and

(3) the loss of jobs or refusal of credit to registered black voters at local banks and stores;

Whereas during the march on Bloody Sunday Congressman Lewis was beaten unconscious, leaving him with a concussion and countless other injuries;

Whereas footage of the events on Bloody Sunday was broadcast on national television that night and burned its way into the Nation's conscience;

Whereas the courage, discipline, and sacrifice of these marchers caused the Nation to respond quickly and positively; and

Whereas the citizens of the United States must not only remember this historic event, but also commemorate its role in the creation of a more just society and appreciate the ways in which it has inspired other movements around the world: Now, therefore, be it

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