President Johnson signs the Voting Rights Act of 1965
In response to Bloody Sunday in Selma, AL, President Johnson gave a historic speech to a joint session of Congress on March 15, 1965. He called for a Voting Rights Act but framed it in a way that spoke to the deeper reality of racial injustice in our nation. The most famous part of the speech came as he spoke of the struggle of Black Americans for justice and equality, “Their cause must be our cause too, because it’s not just Negroes but it’s really all of us who must overcome the crippling legacy of bigotry and injustice, and we shall overcome.” It was reported that when President Johnson used the phrase that served as the anthem of the civil rights movement, “we shall overcome,” Martin Luther King, Jr. had tears in his eyes. The faithful witness of hundreds who suffered state sponsored violence by engaging in nonviolent direct action in Selma, touched the conscience of the President and the nation to move forward with the Voting Rights Act. That piece of landmark legislation was signed into law on August 6, 1965. The first video posted below is an excerpt from that famous speech including the line quoted above.
Yet the struggle to overcome racial injustice did not end with the President’s speech or the Voting Rights Act. The second video posted below both commemorates the famous 1965 speech and lifts up the fact that there are currently over 250 bills in 43 states aimed at limiting the right to vote. Supposedly this is done in the name of “security to prevent voter fraud,” but there is no evidence of widespread voter fraud in the last national election. The practical impact of these bills would be to make it much more difficult for poor and marginalized people to vote. Voting rights advocate Stacey Abrams called this “Jim Crow in a suit and tie.” Echoing the words of President Johnson from 56 years ago,” it’s (still) all of us who must overcome the crippling legacy of bigotry and injustice.” Our nation is at a crossroads once again. The question is Shall We Overcome? May we honor the legacy of the witnesses from the Civil Rights Movement and recommit ourselves to the call to continue the struggle for justice in 2021. With faith that all people are made in the image of God and in partnership with our sisters and brothers of all races, “we shall overcome.”