Selma is sacred ground, not a place for political pretense.

Repairers of the Breach

For Immediate Release: February 20, 2023

Contact: Michael.Holloman@berlinrosen.com, 757-955-5804

On Presidents’ Day, Faith Leaders Send Open Letter to President Biden, Members of Congress Demanding Action on Voting Rights, Living Wages, Rural Economic Investment Ahead of Bloody Sunday Anniversary

GOLDSBORO, NC – Ahead of the 58th anniversary of Bloody Sunday, faith leaders, organized by Bishop William J. Barber, II, president of Repairers of the Breach and co-chair of the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival, wrote a letter to President Biden and members of Congress declaring if they come to Selma, Alabama to commemorate Bloody Sunday this year, they must do more than bring empty platitudes. They must come with a commitment and plan to restore and expand voting rights, intensify the battle for living wages, and increase economic investment in rural areas.

“If the President or other politicians are going to come to Selma, they should come on Bloody Sunday, when John Lewis and others were beaten and almost killed, to declare that the fight for voting rights and the restoration of what they marched across that bridge for is not over,” the faith leaders say in the letter. “They should pledge to restore and expand voting rights. They should come to say that they will intensify the battle for living wages that Dr. King talked about at the end of the Selma to Montgomery March; intensify economic investment in rural areas. Maybe the President and members of his cabinet can bring resources to present on that sacred Sunday to the people of Selma who have been devastated by disaster.”

Addressing Democrats and Republicans alike, the letter signed Bishop William J. Barber, II, Rev. Dr. Liz Theoharis, Former Senator Hank Sanders, Faya Rose Toure, Rev. Mark Thompson, Rebecca Marion and Rev. Carolyn Foster, declares that Selma is sacred ground, not a place for political pretense and that political leaders who are truly committed to honoring the legacy of those beaten on Edmund Pettus Bridge in 1965 must do more to intensify the fight for voting rights and living wages.

“We caution all politicians who have done little or even blocked the restoration of the Voting Rights Act but want to come down for a photo op on Saturday and undermine the sacredness of Sunday; who want to come and say they honor those who were beaten on that bridge and they recognize what was done back then while they are actively undermining democracy right now.”

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