WASHINGTON -- The civil rights protestors whose 1965 "Bloody Sunday" march led to the Voting Rights Act received the Congressional Gold Medal on Wednesday, thanks in part to U.S. Sen. Cory Booker, who said he owes his post to them.
"I stand here today because you stood there then, because you marched, because you didn't let nobody turn you around," said Booker (D-N.J.). "I am humbled to be able to participate here and pay tribute to some of the extraordinary Americans whose footsteps paved the way for me and my generation."
Booker and U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), whose state was home to the historic march portrayed in the movie "Selma," introduced the Senate version of the legislation giving the Congressional Gold Medal to the "foot soldiers" of the Selma to Montgomery marches.
Booker is one of just five blacks ever elected to the U.S. Senate.
In an interview after the ceremony, Booker said his resolution was not designed as a thank you to the Selma marchers who paved the way for his ascension to the Senate.
"They earned those medals, not because of some congressional decree or action on my part and others," Booker said. "They earned them 50 years ago through their sacrifirice, service, courage and love. This was just bestowing upon them physically the tribute they already earned in spirit."
Obama signed the bill last March en route to Selma, where he helped mark the 50th anniversary of the protests. The marchers' first attempt ended in violence at the Edmund Pettus Bridge where state and local troopers attacked them in an incident known as "Bloody Sunday." The protesters eventually did complete the 50-mile trek between the two cities.
U.S. Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.) and Rev. Dr. Frederick Douglas Reese accepted the medal on behalf of the dozens of marchers who attended the ceremony. Lewis, who was beaten by police during the protest, received the loudest ovations when he was introduced.
"It was their determined marching feet that led to the passage of the Voting Rights Act," Lewis said. "They were just ordinary people with an extraordinary vision, to build a true democracy in America."
Reese, the president of the Dallas County Voters League, invited the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to come to Selma and join the protest for voting rights.
Even as Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) participated in the ceremony, they have refused to bring up legislation restoring a key section of the Voting Rights Act struck down by the five Republican appointees on the U.S. Supreme Court.
The court threw out the provision requiring states and localities with a history of discrimination to get Justice Department approval before making any changes to voting laws.
Since then, several Republican-controlled states have enacted voter identification laws that the Justice Department has said discriminated against minorities in order to guard against in-person voter fraud that the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University Law School said was "nearly non-existent."
"The struggle for the right to vote without impediment continues in our time," Rev. Patrick J. Conroy, the House chaplain, said in his invocation. He said those actions, "not fraud, has been the greater scandal."
House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) was cheered when she called on Congress to undo the Supreme Court's action weakening the historic law.
"You, all of you, men and women alike, had the courage to march forward into tear gas and nightsticks for voting rights in our democracy," Pelosi said. "We should have the courage and, indeed, the decency to hold a vote in Congress on the Voting Rights Act."
Jonathan D. Salant may be reached at jsalant@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JDSalant. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook.