Cohen: Selma Foot Soldiers Deserve a Congressional Gold Medal
[WASHINGTON, DC] – On the floor of the United States House of Representatives today, Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-09) spoke in support of awarding a Congressional Gold Medal to the Foot Soldiers who participated in Bloody Sunday, Turnaround Tuesday, or the final voting rights march from Selma to Montgomery in March of 1965. In 2010, Congressman Cohen marched arm-in-arm with Congressman John Lewis, who led the march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge 50 years ago, on the 10th Congressional Civil Rights Pilgrimage to Selma. Video of Congressman Cohen’s remarks from this morning is available here.
“It is most fitting that we honor the Foot Soldiers from Bloody Sunday, Turnaround Tuesday and the march from Selma to Montgomery with a Congressional Gold Medal. They were Americans of all races who saw injustice and came together to right it. Thousands of brave people came to the South to see that all Americans got the right to vote. Each risked their lives; some lost them.”
“But we don’t just need to see the movie and give these marchers a Congressional Gold Medal to honor them; we need to live it. People are being denied voting rights today in this country, and the Voting Rights Act which was recently eviscerated by the Supreme Court must be reinstated. There are still civil rights that must be protected and restored today. Our movement isn’t over. The movement continues. A medal is good, but the spirit must continue in Congress to see that all people have their rights to vote, to participate, and to not have state judges—lips dripping with interposition—take away federal protected rights.”
Congressman Cohen has always been a vocal advocate for civil rights and was the author of H.Res.194, the first and only official Congressional apology for slavery and Jim Crow laws. The text of the apology, which passed the House on July 29, 2008, is available here. As the Ranking Member of the Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution and Civil Justice, Congressman Cohen has broad jurisdiction over constitutional amendments, constitutional rights, Federal civil rights, ethics in government, medical malpractice and product liability, legal reform generally, and relevant oversight over those issues.