Senate Resolution No. 14

Introduced by Senator Hall

February 26, 2015

Senate Resolution No. 14—Relative to the 50th Anniversary of Bloody Sunday.

WHEREAS, March 7, 2015, will mark 50 years since the brave
Foot Soldiers of the Voting Rights Movement first attempted to
march from Selma to Montgomery on Bloody Sunday in protest
against the denial of their right to vote and were brutally assaulted
by Alabama state troopers; and

WHEREAS, Beginning in 1964, members of the Student
Nonviolent Coordinating Committee attempted to register
African-Americans to vote throughout the State of Alabama; and

WHEREAS, These efforts were designed to ensure that every
American citizen would be able to exercise their constitutional
right to vote and have their voices heard; and

WHEREAS, By December of 1964, many of these efforts
remained unsuccessful. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., working with
leaders from the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and
the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, began to organize
protests throughout Alabama; and

WHEREAS, On March 7, 1965, over 500 voting rights marchers,
known as Foot Soldiers, gathered on the Edmund Pettus Bridge
in Selma, Alabama, in peaceful protest of the denial of their most
sacred and constitutionally protected right--the right to vote; and

WHEREAS, Led by John Lewis of the Student Nonviolent
Coordinating Committee and Rev. Hosea Williams of the Southern
Christian Leadership Conference, these Foot Soldiers began the
march towards the Alabama State Capitol in Montgomery,
Alabama; and

WHEREAS, As the Foot Soldiers crossed the Edmund Pettus
Bridge, they were confronted by a wall of Alabama state troopers
who brutally attacked and beat them; and

WHEREAS, Americans across the country witnessed this tragic
turn of events as news stations broadcast the brutality on a day
that would be later known as Bloody Sunday; and

WHEREAS, Two days later, on Tuesday, March 9, 1965, nearly
2,500 Foot Soldiers led by Dr. Martin Luther King risked their
lives once more and attempted a second peaceful march starting
at the Edmund Pettus Bridge. This second attempted march was
later known as Turnaround Tuesday; and

WHEREAS, Fearing for the safety of these Foot Soldiers who
received no protection from federal or state authorities during this
second march, Dr. King led the marchers to the base of the Edmund
Pettus Bridge and stopped. Dr. King kneeled and offered a prayer
of solidarity and walked back to the church; and

WHEREAS, Lyndon B. Johnson, inspired by the bravery and
determination of these Foot Soldiers and the atrocities they
endured, announced his plan for a voting rights bill aimed at
securing the precious right to vote for all citizens during an address
to Congress on March 15, 1965; and

WHEREAS, On March 17, 1965, one week after Turnaround
Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Frank M. Johnson ruled that the Foot
Soldiers had a First Amendment right to petition the government
through peaceful protest and ordered federal agents to provide full
protection to the Foot Soldiers during the Selma to Montgomery
Voting Rights March; and

WHEREAS, Judge Johnson’s decision overturned Alabama
Governor George Wallace’s prohibition on the protest due to public
safety concerns; and

WHEREAS, On March 21, 1965, under the court order, the U.S.
Army, the federalized Alabama National Guard, and countless
federal agents and marshals escorted nearly 8,000 Foot Soldiers
from the start of their heroic journey in Selma, Alabama to their
safe arrival on the steps of the Alabama State Capitol Building on
March 25, 1965; and

WHEREAS, The extraordinary bravery and sacrifice these Foot
Soldiers displayed in pursuit of a peaceful march from Selma to
Montgomery brought national attention to the struggle for equal
voting rights, and served as the catalyst for Congress to pass the
Voting Rights Act of 1965, which President Johnson signed into
law on August 6, 1965; now, therefore, be it

Resolved by the Senate of the State of California, That to
commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Voting Rights Movement
and the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, it is befitting
for the California State Senate to commemorate March 7, 2015,
in honor of the Foot Soldiers who participated in Bloody Sunday,
Turnaround Tuesday, or the final Selma to Montgomery Voting
Rights March during March of 1965, which served as a catalyst
for the Voting Rights Act of 1965; and be it further

Resolved, That the Secretary of the Senate provide copies of
this resolution to the author for appropriate distribution.