President Biden Plans to Visit Selma for Bridge Crossing Jubilee

FILE – President Joe Biden (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

President Joe Biden plans to be in Selma for the annual Bridge Crossing Jubilee.

Former State Sen. Hank Sanders, one of the Jubilee organizers, confirmed the president’s plans. Details have not yet been announced by the White House, but it has been confirmed that the president will be in Selma on Sunday.

Typically, for security reasons details of a presidential visit aren’t made public until just before arrival.

As WAKA 8 has reported, organizers are making sure that the nation knows that despite the January 12 tornado that destroyed part of the city, that the Bridge Crossing Jubilee events are taking place as scheduled.

We have also reported on security efforts. With the president coming, federal officials will now lead those efforts.

Biden visited Selma for the Bridge Crossing Jubilee as a presidential candidate in 2020 and as vice president in 2013.

Last year, Vice President Kamala Harris came to Selma for events on the Sunday of Bridge Crossing Jubilee weekend. Those events include the Martin & Coretta Scott King Unity Breakfast, church services, a pre-march rally at Brown Chapel AME Church and the march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge. It is not know which of those events the president might attend.

The annual Bridge Crossing Jubilee remembers Bloody Sunday and the Selma-to-Montgomery civil rights marches of 1965. Over the years, presidents, presidential candidates and members of Congress have made a pilgrimage to Selma to retrace the steps of the people who helped change the country.

BRIDGE CROSSING JUBILEE: LIST OF EVENTS

U.S. Rep. Terri Sewell (D-Alabama) invited President Biden to visit Selma during his 2023 State of the Union Address. The visit comes after he granted Sewell’s request to increase the federal cost share for FEMA’s public assistance program—including funding for debris removal and emergency protective measures—from 75% to 100% following the January 12 storms.

“I am thrilled that President Biden has accepted my invitation to visit Selma for the 58th anniversary of Bloody Sunday,” Rep. Sewell said in a statement. “As Selma continues to recover from the January 12th storms, President Biden’s presence will send a clear message that our community is not alone and shows that the federal government will continue to be a partner in rebuilding Selma and Dallas County. I look forward to welcoming the President to my hometown as we reflect on the sacrifices of the Foot Soldiers in the name of equality and justice for all.”