President Joe Biden honored the late Congressman John Lewis, who marched across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama 59 years ago Thursday, during his State of the Union address.
Biden also acknowledged other civil rights marchers who were in attendance at his 2024 address, including Betty Mae Fikes, an activist and singer known as “The Voice of Selma.”
“She sang songs of prayer and protest on that Bloody Sunday to help shape the nation’s conscience. Five months later, the Voting Rights Act passed and was signed into law,” Biden said as those in attendance on both sides of the aisle stood in applause.
Biden then called on Congress to pass two pieces of voting rights legislation, the Freedom to Vote Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Act.
Biden’s March 7 address comes as he seeks reelection against likely Republican nominee former President Donald Trump.
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