Kamala Harris leads Bloody Sunday memorial as marchers' voices ring out for voting rights

SELMA, Ala. (AP) — Vice President Kamala Harris told thousands gathered for the 59th anniversary of the Bloody Sunday attacks on civil rights marchers in Selma, Alabama, that fundamental freedoms, including the right to vote, are under attack in America even today.

Harris joined those gathered at the foot of the Edmund Pettus Bridge, where voting rights activists were beaten back by law enforcement officers in 1965. The vice president praised the marchers' bravery for engaging in a defining moment of the civil rights struggle.

"Today, we know our fight for freedom is not over, because in this moment we are witnessing a full on attack on hard-fought, hardwon freedoms, starting with the freedom that unlocks all others, the freedom to vote," Harris said.

She criticized attempts to restrict voting, including limits on absentee voting and early voting, and said the nation is again at a crossroad.

"What kind of country do we want to live in? Do we want to live in a country of freedom, liberty and justice? Or a country of injustice, hate and fear?" Harris asked, encouraging people to answer with their vote.

She paid tribute to the civil rights marchers who walked across the bridge in 1965 knowing they would face certain violence in seeking "a future that was more equal, more just and more free."

Decisions by the Supreme Court and lower courts since 2006 have weakened the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which was passed in the wake of the police attacks in Selma. The demonstrators were beaten by officers on the Edmund Pettus Bridge on March 7, 1965, as they tried to march across Alabama to support voting rights.

Harris drew parallels between those who worked to stifle the Civil Rights Movement and "extremists" she said are trying to enact restrictions on voting, education and reproductive care.

She said other fundamental freedoms under attack include "the freedom of a woman to make decisions about her own body," a reference to state abortion bans. She also stressed the Biden administration's support for a six-week ceasefire in Gaza to "get the hostages out and a significant amount of aid in."

Under a blazing blue sky, Harris then led the crowd across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in the march that concludes the annual commemoration. Thousands followed, sometimes singing hymns and anthems of the Civil Rights Movement including, "Ain't Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me 'Round."

Earlier Sunday, Attorney General Merrick Garland spoke at a Selma church service marking the anniversary of the attack by Alabama law officers on civil rights demonstrators. He said recent court decisions and certain state legislation have endangered voting rights in much of the nation.

"Since those (court) decisions, there has been a dramatic increase in legislative measures that make it harder for millions of eligible voters to vote and to elect representatives of their choice," Garland told worshippers at Selma's Tabernacle Baptist Church, the site of one of the first mass meetings of the voting rights movement.