US President Joe Biden emphasized the importance of knowing all of American history, “good and bad,” as he commemorated the brutal crackdown 58 years ago on the civil rights march.
Biden believed “history matters” during a speech he delivered in front of the Edmund Pettus Bridge in South Alabama, where hundreds of peace activists were brutally cracked down on March 7 by police. 1965 because it was “Bloody Sunday” that shocked the United States and led to the Voting Rights Act, a federal law guaranteeing the right to vote for everyone, a few months later.
Biden added that these demonstrators “forced America to face the truth and act,” accusing the opposition of wanting to “hide the truth” of history.
Amid controversy over the teaching of the history of slavery and a racist past in the nation’s schools, Biden stressed that “we can’t choose, know what we want and what we don’t want. We must know everything, good and bad.”
Biden urged to remain “vigilant” about the right to vote, which he said is threatened by “dozens of restrictive laws” passed in conservative states, among other things.
Since 2020, conservative states have passed several laws banning the teaching of “critical racial theory,” while Florida Gov. Ron De Santis, who has presidential ambitions, recently defended a ban on African American history classes in high school on the grounds that it ” teach faith” youth.
Source: AFP