Three members of Congress accused the Trump administration of trying to erase part of Alabama’s history Saturday in speeches outside a Montgomery landmark of the Civil Rights Movement.
U.S. Rep. Terri Sewell, D-Birmingham; U.S. Rep. Shomari Figures, D-Mobile; and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York spoke in defense of the Freedom Rides Museum, housed in the historic Montgomery Bus Station. The station was included in a list published Tuesday by the U.S. General Services Administration of more than 400 federal buildings and properties to be sold as a result of ongoing cuts from the Department of Government Efficiency.
In 1961, Freedom Riders were attacked at the station by white supremacists. Representatives for the museum told AL.com on Thursday they had not been contacted by anyone from the GSA regarding its sale. The list was taken down from GSA’s website within a day.
Jeffries said the initial listing was in line with what he called, “reckless tyranny being unleashed by some in Washington to try to erase our history.”
The three spoke on the 60th anniversary weekend of “Bloody Sunday,” when Alabama state troopers and an all-white posse attacked Civil Rights Movement marchers on the Edmund Pettus Bridge as they made their way from Selma to Montgomery. Among the marchers was future Congressman John Lewis, whom Figures invoked.
“We have to stand up for Montgomery, we have to stand up for our history, and we have to stand up for this bus station with the same resolve that John Lewis and the Freedom Riders stood up for America,” he said.
Sewell said she and Figures were preparing legislation that would require congressional approval before a building owned by the federal government could be sold. She called on Alabamians to contact their elected officials in Washington – particularly Sens. Tommy Tuberville and Katie Britt.
“Our two senators have a hotline to the White House. We want them to use it to help us preserve … Alabama history,” she said.
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