Obama tells Selma crowd: ‘Our march is not yet finished’

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SELMA, Ala. — President Obama said Saturday the nation owes huge debts to heroes who marched, bled and died for voting rights a half-century ago.

“First and foremost, we have to recognize that one day’s commemoration, no matter how special, is not enough,” Obama told thousands who gathered at the bridge in Selma where civil rights marchers were beaten 50 years ago. “If Selma taught us anything, it’s that our work is never done. The American experiment in self-government gives work and purpose to each generation..”

Poverty, violence, police-minority tensions and problems in the political system remain, Obama told the crowd, but those who still marched after being billy-clubbed and tear-gassed in Selma showed what can be done.

“Fifty years from Bloody Sunday, our march is not yet finished, but we’re getting closer,” Obama said.

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The March 7, 1965, attack on the Edmund Pettus Bridge paved the way for the Voting Rights Act that same year. The law obviously benefited African Americans who became able to vote, Obama said, but in the long run it opened doors for Latinos, women, gays, people with disabilities and all Americans — and helped pave the way for his own election as the nation’s first African-American president.

The president listed an honor roll of those who marched in Selma, including Martin Luther King Jr., Diane Nash, Joseph Lowery and John Lewis, who was beaten nearly to death on “Bloody Sunday” and is now a U.S. House member from Georgia.

In introducing the president, Lewis said that “the story of Selma is the story of America.”

Speaking on a clear, warm day, Obama described Selma as one of those places “where this nation’s destiny has been decided,” an honored list that ranges from Concord and Lexington to Gettysburg, from Independence Hall to Cape Canaveral.

“And what a solemn debt we owe,” Obama said. “Which leads to ask, just how might we repay that debt?”

For one thing, Obama urged Americans to “shed their cynicism” and believe that real change is possible — and he cited the recent report describing racist attitudes in Ferguson, Mo., the site of the police shooting of an unarmed black man last year.

“What happened in Ferguson may not be unique, but it’s no longer endemic,” Obama said. “It’s no longer sanctioned by law or by custom. And before the Civil Rights movement, it most surely was.”

Obama discussed the recent deaths of unarmed black males at the hands of police in Ferguson, Cleveland and Staten Island, N.Y. He said Americans need to make sure the criminal justice system works for all people, not just some.

While racism remains, Obama said, it’s important to remember that things have changed, citing the rise of minorities and women in the business and political worlds.

“To deny this progress, this hard won progress — our progress — would be to rob us of our own agency, our own capacity, our responsibility to do what we can to make America better,” he said.

It is also fair to say that racism has not been banished, Obama said. “This is work for all Americans, and not just some — not just white, not just black.”

The president discussed the challenges of poverty as well as voter identification laws and other proposals that he said are designed to make it “harder for people to vote.” He noted that the Supreme Court recently struck down part of the Voting Rights Act and that it is now the subject of too-typical “partisan rancor.”

Yet, he pointed out, even if every barrier to voting were removed, the U.S. voting rate would still be one of the world’s lowest. The president urged people to vote and exercise the right that so many people fought for in places like Selma.

In calling for renewed action against national problems, Obama said, “If we want to honor the courage of those who marched that day, then all of us are called to possess their moral imagination.”

Although the crowd– estimated to be 40,000 by Selma Fire Chief Michael Stokes — seemed predominantly Democrat, there were Republicans at the event. They included former president George W. Bush and House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., the chamber’s second-ranking Republican.

There was some tension at the event. At one point, members of the crowd beat drums and chanted: “We want change! We want change!” Police led away at least one person. Placards in the crowd read “We need change” and “Please stop killing us” — the latter adorned with a representation of a young black man from Tampa named Andrew Joseph.

Obama closed by issuing a challenge to young people.

“For everywhere in this country, there are first steps to be taken, there’s new ground to cover, there are more bridges to be crossed,” Obama said. “And it is you, the young and fearless at heart, the most diverse and educated generation in our history, who the nation is waiting to follow.”

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Obama, civil rights icons remember Selma march

Mar 07, 2015