U.S. Attorney Rachael Rollins will co-lead a delegation of greater than 30 different U.S. attorneys in Alabama to commemorate “Bloody Sunday,” the day a civil rights demonstration there fell into violence in 1965, in addition to the passage of the Voting Rights Act that very same 12 months.
“Walking the same steps as those who courageously marched across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in 1965 is a powerful and moving experience. I am incredibly honored to join my Justice Department colleagues in Selma,” Rollins, who serves because the vice-chair of the Attorney General Advisory Committee’s Civil Rights Subcommittee, mentioned in a press release.
“The beliefs that compelled those before us to march toward justice — that everyone should have equitable access to participatory democracy, fair and equal protection of the law, and the ability to live and thrive authentically and fully as themselves — are identical to what drives the work of my office and the Justice Department today,” she added.
The delegation will keep within the space starting Saturday and lasting by way of Tuesday, and can meet with each group and civil rights leaders and exploring the historical past of civil rights in a spot the place one of many motion’s darkest days occurred.
On March 7, 1965, an illustration with 600 individuals in Selma, Ala., resulted in blood and damage when native and state police attacked them.
The leaders of that demonstration included John Lewis, then the chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee who later grew to become a Congressman from Georgia till his dying in 2020, and Hosea Williams of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.
The marchers have been stopped on the finish of the Edmund Pettus Bridge, as a web page from The National Archives tells it, “by the police by some 150 Alabama state troopers, sheriff ’s deputies, and possemen, who ordered the demonstrators to disperse.
“One minute and five seconds after a two-minute warning was announced, the troops advanced, wielding clubs, bullwhips, and tear gas. John Lewis, who suffered a skull fracture, was one of fifty-eight people treated for injuries at the local hospital,” the entry continued.
Rollins will lead the delegation together with U.S. Attorney Nicholas Brown of the Western District of Washington, who chairs the Attorney General Advisory Committee’s Civil Rights Subcommittee.
“As Vice-Chair of the Civil Rights Subcommittee, I have the privilege of furthering the Justice Department’s mission and priorities to uphold the rule of law and protect civil rights. I am proud of the exceptional work we have done in Massachusetts,” Rollins mentioned in a press release.
Source: www.bostonherald.com”