WASHINGTON – This weekend, U.S. Senator Tom Udall (D-N.M .) joined more than 35 members of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives on a Civil Rights Pilgrimage in Selma, Birmingham and Montgomery, Alabama. The members of Congress spent the weekend-long event visiting locations that were at the center of the fight for equality during the Civil Rights Movement as part of a congressional delegation trip coordinated by the Faith and Politics Institute.
“It was deeply moving and humbling to join this pilgrimage - to walk in the footsteps of the heroic Americans who marched, bled, and gave their lives to bring this nation closer to its ideals. The story of the American Civil Rights Movement is one of sheer heroism and unbridled courage in the pursuit of equality and justice,” Udall said. “Their work must be our work today, as we confront the discrimination and racism that still exists in our society and the many ways this nation still fails to ensure equal rights for all Americans. Equality and justice must not be mere principles that we pay lip service to on occasions like these – we must fight for them with the same courage as those who marched in Alabama over 50 years ago. Justice and equality are for the people of New Mexico and for all people across the United States, including Native people and those immigrating here because they too dream of a better future for their children.”
Udall continued, “Today, our nation faces too many of the same threats to equal treatment under the law and at the ballot box that so many fought for during the Civil Rights Movement. We continue to face attempts to disenfranchise voters across the country and a criminal justice system that too often discriminates against people of color. From guaranteeing the right to vote, to reforming the criminal justice system, to defending the rights of immigrants and expanding opportunities for all communities, we must work tirelessly to honor the legacy of the Civil Rights Movement and deliver on the American promise of justice and equality for all.”
During the Pilgrimage, Udall, and the congressional delegation visited sites along the U.S. Civil Rights Trail in Selma, Birmingham and Montgomery, Alabama including:
– Freedom Rides Museum
– 16th Street Baptist Church where four young girls perished in a bombing orchestrated by the Ku Klux Klan
– Brown Chapel African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church, the first AME church in Alabama, the site of preparations for the march to Montgomery
– Edmund Pettus Bridge, where civil rights marchers endured police brutality during the first march for voting rights
