Gov. Pritzker delivered remarks on the Edmund Pettus Bridge commemorating
Rev. Jackson and the Civil Rights Movement
CHICAGO, IL — On Sunday, March 8, Governor JB Pritzker visited Selma, Alabama to join leaders across the nation in commemorating the heroes of the Civil Rights Movement. He gave remarks on the Edmund Pettus bridge at the annual Selma Bridge Crossing Jubilee.
”So, let’s march forward today with the knowledge that we are the inheritors of the faith that brought marchers to the bridge 61 years ago,” said Gov. Pritzker. “It’s now on us to bend the arc of the moral universe toward justice. It’s on us to keep hope alive.”
Annual Selma Bridge Crossing Jubilee
Watch Gov. Pritzker’s remarks HERE.
Transcript:
It is truly a privilege to join you commemorating the heroes of the Civil Rights Movement. Among them was the adopted son of Chicago, of my state of Illinois, the great Reverend Jesse Jackson. Truly a champion of civil rights and human rights.
Jesse Jackson came to Selma drawn by Dr. King in the wake of Bloody Sunday. And he gave soaring sermons, arguing that American democracy was truly born here in Selma in 1965. And he reminded young children and the downtrodden and the elderly and the hopeless, “I am somebody.” And he told us to “keep hope alive.” And last year, he made what would be his final pilgrimage to Selma. He was surrounded by elected officials and faith leaders and activists, many of whom he had inspired. He was surrounded by his legacy. When Jesse Jackson passed away last month, our state, our nation, our world lost a giant. We also lost another icon of the most extraordinary generation of civil rights activists. We, all of us here, we are the inheritors of theirs. We are here today, not just to remember them and honor them, but to recommit ourselves to their mission.
The everyday people who marched for civil rights and voting rights in Alabama in 1965 did so knowing that they would face violence, they would face torture, and that their government would not protect them. But they came anyway. The marchers put their lives on the line to awaken the moral conscience of America. Their antagonists fractured the skull of the great John Lewis. Protesters were beaten and bruised and bloodied, but they marched anyway, because they had faith that after Bloody Sunday, the truth would begin to be laid bare. Our nation, founded on the promise that all men are created equal, had not lived up to that credo.
Now today, racism and Jim Crow are on the rise once again in America. Trump’s Supreme Court is gutting the Voting Rights Act. The Republicans want to post military troops and camouflaged ICE agents at polling places in the midterms. Trump is systematically rolling back equity and inclusion in employment and education, taking away food assistance and health care, and he’s trying to erase slavery from our children’s American history books.
Standing on this bridge, you can’t help but hear the voices of the heroes of Bloody Sunday.
Trump is turning ICE into his personal secret police, violating the sanctity of churches and schools and hospitals, claiming he’s going after the ‘worst of the worst.’
He’s not. He’s simply suppressing the freedom and rights of the American people, stripping away your right to vote, and keeping the corrupt oligarchs in power. We can stop them. So, let’s march forward today with the knowledge that we are the inheritors of the faith that brought marchers to the bridge 61 years ago. It’s now on us to bend the arc of the moral universe toward justice. It’s on us to keep hope alive. So, God bless you, God protect our troops that Trump has put into harm’s way. Thank you.
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