This is American History tv on cspan3. [applause] let me thank god this day for there is no other place i would rather be at this hour than in the house of the lord. Amen. Before i say what i want to say, which will be quick, i must proud i am to once again have i am proud to have my wife and our daughter here with us. [applause] the only grandchild of martin and coretta king. I was asked to do a tribute, and it has been 50 years, but i am not feeling like a tribute because i find it challenging to celebrate yes, we celebrate so many who some gave their lives and others walked over the bridge yesterday 50 years ago and were beaten badly, but when we think about what Martin Luther king, jr. Would want us to do, i imagine he would tell us that our work was not done. Do, i imagine he would tell us that our work was not done. It has certainly been 50 years and there are so many here today that would not have been here. Cabinet secretary that were certainly not here 50 years ago, and i am proud of my own classmate, secretary jeh johnson, secretary security is here. [applause] but you know, i would have never guessed that just a couple of years ago that our Supreme Court would dismantle the Voting Rights act because today we should be celebrating but we cannot celebrate yet, and you know, someone say we idolize dr. King, and yes, we should, but unfortunately, that is not what he wanted us to do. When you idolize summit, you put on the shelf, lifted up, and when kings day comes out, you pull it out and show it. Or when black History Month comes out, you show it, or when april 4 or other times, you show it, but you see, dad would not want us to idolize. He would want us to embrace his ideals. Truth, freedom, justice, and equality and righteousness. So i am concerned because our Voting Rights have been decimated. We are a better nation than the behavior that we are exhibiting. To the 100 members of congress joined with the president yesterday, there ought to be legislation that is proposed tomorrow. [applause] we can do it. We ought to first of all make registration online available, not just in 20 states. That is one. Number two we might need to consider changing election day from tuesday i mean, if you want people not to bundesbank, if you want to throw a want people not to participate, if you want to throw a party, do not throw it on tuesday. Why dont we have at least a couple or three days, and at least have one of those days he a weekend day . And then the issue is not an idea. A we have always had to bringn id. Some forts of idms of id have been changed, so make that hard for some folks to get. So as the ambassador proposed at the johnson ceremonies last year, just put a picture on our Social Security card. If we have to have a government form of id. Those are the three things we can do. The final thing is there is something wrong with us purporting to practice and promote democracy all over the globe, yet suppressing democracy at home. That is inconsistent. That must change. There is something wrong in a nation where 6 million black men are not allowed to vote because they were convicted of felonies. They paid their dues to society, yet their right to vote is not reinstated. Somewhere i heard something about taxation without representation. Maybe they should not pay their taxes. If they have no ability to vote. All i am saying is i do not feel like trueibuting. Oh that is wonderful. What i will finally say and this is final. [laughter] [applause] every time i come to these anniversaries, i think about what dad said in montgomery in 1965, and at the end of the march, and he talked about how long will it be. He did not know how long, but he said he knew it would not be long because no lie can live forever. How long . Not long because truth forever on the throne, yet that scalpel is keeping watch. How long . Not long because no lie can live forever. How long . Not long because god almighty is still on the throne, keep keeping on. We are going to be all right. Were not there yet. [cheers and applause] we are going to have special remarks from two members of the president s cabinets, taking a point of personal privilege. I just wanted knowledge we have secretary of homeland security, secretary johnson with us and his lovely wife. Please stand. We have secretary tom perez, who is the secretary of labor. [applause] attorney general in the wing, not yet confirmed, not yet sworn in loretta lynch, please stand. [cheers and applause] we look forward to you being the 83rd attorney general of the United States of america. My colleague from the great state of texas, Sheila Jackson lee, please stand up. And the director of the National Park service, mr. John jarvis, please stand up. And the 82nd attorney general of the United States, eric holder. [cheers and applause] and his lovely wife and son. First of the podium at shaun donovan, director of the office of management and budget, the moneyman for the president. Prior to that, he was also the secretary of hud, so he has been a great public servant. Shaun donovan. [applause] [indiscernible] i look forward to that. [laughter] latest and gentlemen, program organizers, the thing was distinguished guests, good morning. Im enormously honored to be here this morning to join you in commemorating the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the selma and macmurray march, and i want to particularly thank my friends and a colleague representative terri sewell. Lets give her a round of applause. Mayor evans as well, thank you both for allowing us to share in this great weekend of celebration. Serving Bishop James Davis ledois strong, thank you all for your inspiration today. Before i have the honor of introducing our attorney general , let me say just a few words about this celebration today. 24 years ago, i sat down for dinner at a Chinese Restaurant with john lewis. I did that because the next morning, i was part of a group of interracial students that was leaving on the 30th anniversary of the freedom ride t retraced thats a great routeo to retraced that sacred route. I was here at my friend, steve dawson, who joins me here from birmingham today, and we went and sat at the lunch counter in greensboro. We went to many of the sites along the sacred route. We brought james farmer to birmingham for the first time that he had been there since the freedom ridews,s, and we crossed the bridge here in selma, alabama. We wanted to do that because we did not want to just read about that history in a book. We wanted to see with our own eyes, to understand in our own minds, and to feel and our own heatrts what this had menatant for our country, and i remain in my work nearly every in the cabin of president obama inspired by what i learned on that journey. I want to thank the foot soldiers of the Civil Rights Movement who dedicated their lives to the noble legacy that we honor today. It is that legacy that president obama honored yesterday when he signed a bill recognizing the foot soldiers of the Civil Rights Movements, and it is that legacy that makes me proud to announce that the president s budget, released just last month, proposes 50 million to restore and highlight key civil rights monuments across the country. [cheers and applause] that is right that is right. This funding includes critical investments in specific National ParkService Sites central to the Civil Rights Movement. The selma to Montgomery National historic trail including the xoma interpretive center. The Little Rock Central High SchoolNational Historic site. The brown v. Board of education National Historic site. Andy Martin Luther king, jr. National historic site. These sites are not just critical to Southern Heritage or africanAmerican History they are part of the fabric of our nations history. That is right and as we were so eloquently reminded just a moment ago, they were beacons to Freedom Fighters around the world. They must be preserved and maintained so that 50 years from now and 50 years from then and 50 years from then we can return and be reminded of the bridges that we have crossed and the battles that we have won. As dr. King famously said, the ark of the moral universe is long but it bends toward justice, and as i stand here today, i believe those words. Each of us in this room and across the country must continue the work to make sure that we again cross those bridges of hope and unity together. I have no doubt that we will. God bless you, thank you for hosting us here today. [applause] and now i have the honor to present you a friend, a colleague, may i say a brother yeah in the fight of the last six years, your attorney general eric holder. [applause] [inaudible] well, good morning. Good morning. I want to thank you all for that kind introduction, and shaun, there are some other stories you could have told the muslim want to thank you for being brief here. [laughter] you could have told, so i want to thank you for being brief here. [laughter] pioneers and passionate citizens as we commemorate the 50th anniversary of bloody sunday. We dedicate ourselves to the ongoing fight the ongoing fight for civil rights and justice. It is a special and humbling honor to speak at this historic chapter. 50 years ago, men and women of good conscience and of strong will met to advance a cause that was written into our founding documents and etched into our highest ideals. Within these walls, they spoke of the quality, opportunity, justice, and they also spoke of promises unkept. They made brave and perilous plans to realize age dream that had been too long deferred. They joined together as one community to advance a promise of a nation, and to make that promise real. They did this at a time of great and abiding uncertainty, of deep and dangerous, dangerous threats. In the years prior freedom riders testing antisegregation laws have been attacked by angry mobs. Ms. Malone, who later would become my sisterinlaw, had braved George Wallace doors to integrate the university of alabama. Member evers had been murdered medgar evers had been murdered outside his home. And for young girls, at a may colin, carol what robinson and denise mcnair, four Little Angels had been killed by the blast of a bomb of the 16th street church, less than 100 miles from here, attending a service entitled the love that forgives. The love that forgives. And these contemporary atrocities rested on countless others who had for centuries been subjected to a statesponsored regime of intimidation and terror. Although the Supreme Court has struck down segregation laws more than a decade earlier in , innumerable communities enforce laws that kept African Americans entirely separate and emphatically on equal. But make no mistake the decision made here to move forward with the height of bravery. Nowhere was this from a insidious than the barriers africanamericans face when attending to cast a ballot. Literary tests composed of a discussion of white officials kept many blacks from registering to vote. Poll tax, paying to get the necessary documents to vote, paying to get the necessary documents to vote. Paying to get the necessary documents to vote. [applause] paying to get the necessary documents to vote. Were levied against those who attempted to do so. The list of africanamericans overcame obstacles were made public so that white citizens could identify, intimidate and often violently suppress black voters. Although the Civil Rights Act of 1954 had given African American men and women historic protections without adequate Political Representation and without real, political power people of color continue to be marginalized. Stigmatized, brutalized, and denied their very humanity. It was under those circumstances that civil rights leaders courageous advocates, and socalled ordinary citizens were anything but ordinary, who were sick and tired of being sick and tired. They gathered here in selma, a town were only 2 of African Americans are registered to vote , in a county in which racist practices were enforced by a notoriously brutal sheriff, now consigned to others of his kind, and would call for segregation forever. Spurred by the murder of Jimmy Lee Jackson mjimmie lee jackson, an unarmed young black man. An unarmed young black man. [applause] an unarmed young black man. An earlier movement began, and citizens began in march from selma to montgomery, across a bridge that was named for former alabama senator, confederate general, and grand wizard in the ku klux klan. It was a march along a road that promised to be not straight, a road that led through difficult terrain, a road that had been traveled by generations whose footsteps still echo through history. A march through the injustice of plessisy v. Ferguson. March to the read the era of slavery by another name, and the dark days of jim crow. March past but they always thought peculiar institutions and a strange, horrific fruit. They were met with suspicion hostility, and hatred, and still they marched on. Though their feet were tired their souls were restless. Though their bodies eggs, there will was strong. Ached, thei willr was strong. Though they were driven back by violent resistance by alabama officers willing wits, billy clubs, and their bare fists they refused to give up, get out, or given. Still they marched on. And with the relentless drumbeat of their footsteps they didnt thebent the arc of the moral universe a little further toward justice. A dubious congress and a great president to work with my great predecessor to sign into law the Voting Rights act of 1965. [applause] one of the most significant pieces of civil rights legislation in American History. Over the last six years as attorney general of the United States, ive had the duty and the privilege, and also the responsibly and the sacred honor, of enforcing and defending this law and the legacy of all those who made it and who made me possible. [applause] i am proud to say that the department of justice that i lead has aggressively worked to safeguard the right to vote and to extend its promised to every eligible voter. And yes, it has been clear in recent years that fair and free access to the franchise is still in some areas under siege. Shortly after the historic election of president obama in 2008, numerous states and jurisdictions attempted to impose rules and laws that had the effect of restricting americans opportunity to vote particularly in disproportionately communities of color. In 2013, a narrowly divided and a profoundly flawed Supreme Court ruling undermined section 5 of the Voting Rights act and dealt a serious blow to a cornerstone of americans civil rights law. In its majority opinion, the Supreme Court wrote that the situation covered regions that had changed dramatically. And that because of gains made, particularly by africanamericans since the Voting Rights act when into effect, vital preclearance protections that had required federal review, changes to voting procedures in regions with a history of discrimination, should no longer be applied. But as Justice Ruth Bader ginsburg wrote in her striking dissent, let me quote that throwing up preclearance when it has worked and is continuing to work is like throwing away your umbrella in a rainstorm because you are not getting wet. [applause] now, let me be very clear while the courts decision removed one of the Justice Departments most effective tools, we remain undaunted, and undeterred, and our pursuit of a meaningful right to vote of every eligible american. Since the courts ruling, we have used the remaining provisions of the Voting Rights act to fight back against voting restrictions in states throughout the country, and we have won. We won under the old act we won under the new act will stop you come up with another one, we will win again. [applause] in texas we have sought to block as discriminatory a strict photo identification law and two statewide redistricting plans. In north carolina, our next attorney general was born, we brought a sweeping election statute that imposes a needlessly restrictive voter identification requirement that reduces early voting opportunities and limits sameday registrations during early voting. But it is not just in the south. In ohio, wisconsin on behalf of tribal nations in montana and south dakota, we have supported plaintiffs challenging a wide array of voting restrictions under the Voting Rights act. We have also successfully led a gated cases to protect the rights think about this, you have got to litigate to attack the rights of our military and overseas voters to register to vote by absentee ballots in federal elections. But the Justice Department is also working hard outside the courtroom. Given their historic origin lets understand where these laws come from. Given the historic origins and their pernicious impact, i have voted to lift millions of american citizens who were convicted of felonies, who has served their sentence [cheers and applause] all right who have served their sentences, repay their debt to society, in order to help them rejoin their communities and reclaim their futures. I am proud of the work done by the department of justice, and i know that my successor, Loretto Lynch [applause] joined by a great Deputy Attorney general, sally yates. Stand up sally. [applause] atlanta, you are right atlanta as well as a great associate attorney general, Stuart Ellery they will continue to fight aggressively on behalf of this sacred rights, but also recognize that the Justice Department cannot lead this fight alone. For more than two centuries this nation has been built and improved both by and for the people. From the framers of a revolution to the engineers of emancipation , from the women working and walking for suffrage, to the marches for selma. Generation after generation, our slow and arduous progress has always been of our own making, and today this progress is entrusted to each of us. A man who believes in an equal america, everyone can save the future of a nation, that in a fair america, no one is too small to deserve equal treatment under the law, and no one is powerful enough to escape it, and that in a just america we can do no less than deliver fully and without reservations a promise of this countrys democracy to all. This means standing up. This means speaking out for the civil rights which everyone in his country is entitled. It means calling attention to persistent disparities and inequities, and it means working tirelessly to safeguard and to exercise exercise the right to vote. [applause] the people whose names you see on that plaque over there did not die for the right to vote so that people would not exercise that right. Right . As you leave this chapel today you look at those names, and you think about those people. And every time is a little too windy, little too cold, a little too rainy, you have got Something Else to do, you think about them, and you think about all the other people who gave so much so that we would have the right to vote, and you get out there and you vote. Amen. [applause] at the conclusion of the final march to montgomery on the steps of the Alabama State capitol, dr. King called for a society at peace with itself. We have made once unimaginable progress in the halfcentury since he spoke those words, and the to acknowledge that is an insult to those we must always honor and hold in our hearts. The fact that i stand here today , 50 years after heroes like reverend hosea williams, amelia boynton, and congressman john lewis were beaten by Alabama State troopers, i stand today as the 82nd and first African American attorney general of the United States, serving [cheers and applause] serving in the administration of the first African American president [tears and applause] to be succeeded by the first African American woman as attorney general [cheers and applause] this is a cause for great optimism, and it is a sign of tremendous progress, but progress is not the ultimate goal. Equality is still the prize. Still even now it is clear that we have more work to do, that our beloved community has not yet been formed, and that our society is not yet at a just peace. I have no excitations that our goals will be simple to achieve or the challenges will be easily overcome, i know our road will be long and we have many obstacles that will stand in our way, but i have no doubt that if we stand together come if we walk together, if we believe as we always have come in the power of our ideals and the force of our shared community not only our cause, not only our cause, but our country shall overcome. Half a century ago, it was said that nothing could stop the marching feet of a determined people. Well today, 50 years after bloody sunday, we stand together once again as a people. We are no less determined, and we will march on. We will march on until the selfevident truth of equality is made real for every american. We will march on until every citizen is afforded his or her fundamental right to vote. We will march on tour that bright horizon, to the day when all americans, young or old, rich or poor, famous or unknown no matter who they are, no matter where they are from, no matter what they look like, no matter who they love has an equal share in the american dream, and till justice rolls down like a mighty stream, we will march on. We will march because change is not inevitable, progress is not preordained. Our history teaches us that hard work and perseverance in spite of the inevitable setbacks are the only method to obtain that to which we are all entitled. While my time in the department of justice will soon draw to a close, i want you to know that no matter what i do or where my own journey takes me, i will never leave this work. I will never abandon this mission. [applause] but understand this neither can you. [applause] if we are to honor those who came before us and those who are still among us, we must match their sacrifice, their effort with our own. Times change. Issues seem different. The solutions are timeless and they are tested. Western authority and the old ways. Work. Struggle. Challenge entrenched power. Persevere. Overcome. In galatians 6 9, it is said let us not become weary of doing good for we shall reap a harvest if we do not give up. If we do not give up. Amen. Be assured that i will always work beside you as we seek to build a more Perfect Union in a more just society that all americans deserve. Thank you once again for your steadfast support, for your passionate engagement, and for your unwavering devotion to this country and this cause. As we join together, as we forge ahead, and as our people before, as we march on. [cheers and applause] three minutes in fairness to the preacher amen . Amen. Get up if youre on the lords side get up get up get up if youre on the lords side get up get up if youre on the lords side i am telling you to get on up get up get up if youre on the lords side get, get, get, get, get up get up if youre on the lords side get up if youre on the lords side get, get, get, get, get up get up if youre on the lords side my lord, my lord my lord, my lord get up good afternoon, everyone. I know the protocol has already been said, but just let me take the liberty to acknowledge the pastor here of this Church Pastor strong. [applause] as well as other members of this church and members and ministers who are in the pulpit, our special guests, certainly the foot soldiers of the movement and all these icons that surround us across the elected officials as well as officials who are appointed. I am certainly proud