Bill Text: CA SR14 | 2015-2016 | Regular Session | Enrolled
Bill Title: Relative to the 50th Anniversary of Bloody Sunday and the Selma Voting Rights Movement
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Passed) 2015-03-09 - Read. Adopted. (Ayes 36. Noes 0. Page 304.) [SR14 Detail]
Download: California-2015-SR14-Enrolled.html
BILL NUMBER: SR 14 ENROLLED
BILL TEXT
ADOPTED IN SENATE MARCH 9, 2015
ADOPTED IN ASSEMBLY MARCH 4, 2015
AMENDED IN SENATE MARCH 4, 2015
INTRODUCED BY Senator Hall
FEBRUARY 26, 2015
Relative to the 50th Anniversary of Bloody Sunday and the Selma
Voting Rights Movement
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
HOUSE OR SENATE RESOLUTIONS DO NOT CONTAIN A DIGEST
WHEREAS, March 7, 2015, will mark 50 years since the brave Foot
Soldiers of the Selma 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, Jr., 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 Selma 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.
