'A Reckoning': Dissecting President Biden's Visit To Selma On Bloody Sunday Anniversary

SELMA, AL — Beads of sweat began to gather on the forehead of the Rev. Jesse Jackson as he sat in a wheelchair on a side stage adjacent to where President Joe Biden was expected to speak on a much-larger platform featuring a podium decorated with the presidential seal.

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On paper, the temperatures Sunday at the northern foot of the Edmund Pettus Bridge never cracked 80 degrees Fahrenheit. But the midday sun in a cloudless sky overhead baked the 81-year-old Civil Rights icon on the side stage, along with the hundreds crammed onto Broad Street, many waiting in their spots for nearly three hours hoping to catch a quick glimpse of the commander-in-chief.

Along the barricades, a reporter from an openly partisan news outlet could be heard asking leading questions to attendees, most likely in the hopes of catching an off-guard Biden supporter speaking ill of the 46th president and his policies.

At one point after the introductory speakers began, scores of general admission attendees standing behind the barricades in downtown Selma could be heard chanting "We can't see, we can't see, we can't see."

The occasion, however, was to commemorate the anniversary of Bloody Sunday — a moment in Alabama's history that is seared into the memory of all who are old enough to have lived through that turbulent and violent era.

Consisting of three separate marches with the goal of trekking the 54 miles from Selma to Montgomery to advocate for voting rights, the peaceful protest on March 7, 1965, devolved into mayhem at the hands of Alabama state troopers and posse members who attacked demonstrators with clubs and tear gas as they crossed the Edmund Pettus Bridge.

With television cameras rolling and documenting the bloodshed, Bloody Sunday would go on to capture worldwide attention and serve as one of the most important catalysts for widespread institutional reforms.

"On this day, children of God started a journey walking, not saying a word, beaten, tear-gassed. On this bridge, blood was given to help redeem the soul of America," Biden said in his opening remarks, going on to refer to Selma as "a reckoning."

Numerous dignitaries were on hand for the event, including Jackson, Martin Luther King III, Rev. Al Sharpton, Congresswoman Maxine Waters, Housing & Urban Development Secretary Marcia L. Fudge and numerous foot soldiers of the Civil Rights Movement.

The massive crowd and long list of dignitaries was not lost on Democratic Congresswoman Terri Sewell — a Selma native whose district covers parts of southern Tuscaloosa County and most of Alabama's Black Belt.

"We in Selma are used to people coming and walking across the bridge," Sewell remarked. "They just keep walking across the bridge and not staying here in Selma."

To Sewell's point, the once-bustling Dallas County city is one of the few in Alabama that actually saw its population decline from 2020 to 2021 — as the city has been relegated mostly to that of Civil Rights tourism hub at certain times of the year and little else.

While Biden's visit for the Bridge Crossing Jubilee was not his introduction to the event, it was his first as commander-in-chief and also had a more timely element.

Indeed, a couple hundred yards away from the podium, buildings sat mangled in heaps of rubble and twisted metal after a deadly EF2 tornado, packing winds in excess 130 miles per hour, slammed the city in January.

Selma Mayor James Perkins Jr. said the tornado impacted approximately 40% of the city's residential neighborhoods and was joined by several other speakers in asking for Biden's support to not just built Selma back better — a nod to Biden's stalled Build Back Better infrastructure act — but to be more fair in how the effort is approached.

"I have shared with [Biden] our vision, direction, opportunities and our needs," Perkins said. "He listened and the path forward is clear."

As the 2024 election cycle looms, it must be pointed out that Alabama is an odd campaign state, traditionally speaking. For Democrats running for the nation's highest office, it's a lost cause, and for Republicans, a foregone conclusion. For instance, former President Donald Trump won Alabama by a landslide margin with 63% of the vote in 2020, despite Biden winning the entire Black Belt region and Jefferson County. Biden also had a strong performance in Dallas County, where he grabbed 68%.

Still, in such a historically red state, Biden's policies have resulted in a positive impact if you'd asked the local leaders present on Sunday.

As far as Selma is concerned, this most recently came in the form of Biden signing an executive order to increase the federal cost share to 100% of the total eligible costs for a 30-day period of the state’s choosing within the first 120 days of the January tornado, as the Montgomery Advertiser reported, which would end on May 12.

And it was during his speech that Biden touted his record and accomplishments as he nears the end of his first term in the Oval Office. While not giving any clear indication as to his future ambitions, Biden's words very much resembled a stump speech.

Talking points included the capping of the price of insulin at $35 — a policy the president said helps the working class, while also reducing the federal budget by an estimated $158 billion. Other topics were more localized, including water infrastructure improvements in Dallas County and funding to bring high-speed internet to all of the county's residents.

"So no parent, God forbid another pandemic, is going to have to sit in a McDonald's parking lot to use their internet so their kid's homework gets done," Biden said.

What's more, he also spoke at length to active efforts by his administration to address gerrymandering in Alabama with respect to the state's newly drawn congressional districts, while at the same time working to fully restore provisions of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

"A new law here in Alabama, among other things, enacted a new congressional map that discriminated against Black voters, by failing to forge them a new predominantly Black district," Biden said. "And my U.S. Department of Justice has joined many of you in arguing the map violates the Voting Rights Act."

In February 2022, the conservative-leaning Supreme Court ruled 5-4 to allow Alabama to proceed with its preferred map as it prepared for primary elections in May.

"We are faced with the voter suppression tactic of gerrymandering," said Shalela Dowdy, a plaintiff in the ongoing legal battle, in October 2022 as closing arguments were made before the Supreme Court. "This case will determine whether Black Alabamians will be heard or silenced. The case will determine whether Black communities will get the proper support and funding that is needed concerning healthcare, education, and infrastructure."

Biden on Sunday mentioned the matter of Alabama's congressional district lines is still being fought before the Supreme Court.

But when considering the Voting Rights Act of 1965, the law was significantly pared down a decade ago with a ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court, according to the Brennan Center for Justice, with the nonprofit arguing that the weakened law clears the path for states to implement policy that disenfranchises voters and discriminates against voters of color.

"I'm so excited that this president is here to tell us that he is doubling down on the Voting Rights Act and making sure we fully restore the Voting Rights Act of 1965," Sewell said. "I'm glad the president is here to see us, to hear us and to feel us and in so doing, I know we will get to the place we need to be."

This notion was somewhat ironic when considering the chants of "We can't see" from the crowd, along with the media pool setup that effectively blocked the speakers on the side stage from view of the crowd.

Still, Biden went on to champion his proposed reform to the law — dubbed the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act — claiming it would restore and strengthen the protections of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

Lewis, who was beaten and jailed on Bloody Sunday, would go on to become a congressman and one of the most celebrated figures in the Civil Rights movement. On that fateful day, knowing he would likely be jailed, Lewis now-famously carried a backpack containing some fruit, a couple of books, toothpaste and his toothbrush.

The Civil Rights icon died in 2020 and was far and away the most notable absence from the Bridge Crossing Jubilee on Sunday.

"[Peaceful demonstrators on Bloody Sunday] forced the country to confront the hard truth ... and to keep the promise of America alive," Biden said, thinking back on his last visit to Selma, where he crossed the Edmund Pettus Bridge with Lewis.

Also mentioned by one of the introductory speakers was the absence of all of the white members of Alabama congressional delegation and those serving in the state's highest levels of government.

When a show of hands was asked if any white elected officials were in attendance, the only hand raised was that of District 3 City Councilman Clay Carmichael, who sat in the crowd with other dignitaries near the side podium.

In driving his point home about the importance of remembering Bloody Sunday, Biden called for unity after hurling thinly veiled criticism at the Republican Party, particularly the elements of far-right extremism that resulted in the deadly insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

"And together we're saying loud and clear, hate and extremism will not prevail," Biden said. "Silence, as the saying goes, is complicity, and I promise you my administration will not remain silent, I promise you ... Let's not rest, let's keep marching, let's keep the faith. Most of all, let's remember who we are. We're the United States of America and nothing is beyond our capacity when we act together."

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