US: Biden calls for strengthening voting rights in commemoration of Bloody Sunday

Over the weekend, US President Joe Biden commemorated the anniversary of “Bloody Sunday” in Selma, Alabama. Biden marked the anniversary by calling on Congress to strengthen voting rights in his visit.

Biden’s visit to Selma, Alabama, on Sunday, marked the 58th anniversary of “Bloody Sunday,” when state troopers beat peaceful protesters who were marching against racial discrimination. The US leader’s visit to the area was an effort to underline his commitment to Black voters, a key constituency that played a major role in his 2020 election victory and in a possible 2024 re-election bid.

“Selma is a reckoning. The right to vote and to have your vote counted is the threshold of democracy and liberty,” said Biden in his remarks in front of the Edmund Pettus bridge, where the incident referred to as Bloody Sunday took place in 1965. “With it, anything’s possible. Without it, without that right, nothing is possible. And this fundamental right is under assault.”

Biden also marched across the bridge with civil rights leaders Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson and members of the administration after his remarks. The brutality of Bloody Sunday played a major role in the 1965 Voting Rights Act.

The US leader said Congress must pass the Freedom to Vote Act along with the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, both bills that would make election day a holiday. Under the legislation, new voters would be registered and strengthen the oversight of the Justice Department on local election jurisdictions that have a history of discrimination. The measures have been mainly opposed by Republicans, who currently control the House of Representatives.

Meanwhile, Biden is set to unveil his upcoming budget proposal to Congress on Thursday during a visit to Pennsylvania at the Philadelphia Union Hall in an effort to highlight Biden’s worker-centric pitch at a time when he is also anticipated to run for re-election in 2024.

“The President will deliver remarks on his plans to invest in America, continue to lower costs for families, protect and strengthen Social Security and Medicare, reduce the deficit, and more,” the White House said in a statement.