U.S. Attorney Mark Totten Joining DOJ Delegation To Commemorate “Bloody Sunday” And Passage Of Voting Rights Act Of 1965

Attorney General Advisory Committee’s Civil Rights Subcommittee meeting in Selma and Montgomery with Civil Rights leaders at Alabama’s historic memorials and museums

          Grand Rapids – U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Michigan Mark Totten will join more than 30 other U.S. Attorneys from across the country as a delegation to commemorate the 58^th Anniversary of “Bloody Sunday,” the March over Selma’s Edmund Pettus Bridge, and the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Totten has served as a member of the Attorney General Advisory Committee’s Civil Rights Subcommittee (AGAC) since taking office in May 2022.

          “I’m honored to join colleagues from across the United States on this trip to Montgomery and Selma, home to some of the most important moments in the Civil Rights Movement,” said U.S. Attorney Mark Totten. “Our work protecting civil rights goes back more than 150 years. The Department of Justice was born in 1870 and tasked with dismantling the KKK, which was terrorizing African Americans across the South. That original charge of taking on hate and discrimination is still very much a part of our mission today. And my office and I are committed to using every power we have to protect these rights across the Western District of Michigan.”

          From March 4-7, 2023, U.S. Attorneys from across the country will meet with community and civil rights leaders while exploring some of the significant and educational civil rights institutions in Alabama. U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Washington Nick Brown is hosting the delegation’s visit.

          In addition to the Selma March scheduled for Sunday March 5, 2023, the U.S. Attorneys will meet with Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of DOJ’s Civil Rights Division, as part of the subcommittee work supporting the AGAC.

           Other meetings and visits during the trip will focus on both historic civil rights conflicts and issues that are still fresh today.

• The group will meet with distinguished jurist Myron Thompson, the first Black Assistant Attorney General for Alabama and the second Black Federal Judge in the state. As the former Chief Judge in the Middle District of Alabama, Judge Thompson was instrumental in preserving the Montgomery bus station where the Freedom Riders were attacked in 1961 and the establishment of the Freedom Rides Museum. Judge Thompson is a recipient of the Thurgood Marshall award for his “personal contributions and extraordinary commitment to the advancement of civil rights.”
• The group will also meet with Bryan Stevenson, Founder and Executive Director of the Equal Justice Initiative, a nonprofit organization that provides legal representation to people who have been illegally convicted, unfairly sentenced, or abused in state jails and prisons.
• The attorneys will visit The Johnson Institute in the Montgomery federal courthouse where many key civil rights cases were decided. The Johnson Institute demonstrates through its programming the importance of the U.S. Constitution and the independent judiciary.
• They will go to The Legacy Museum, which provides a comprehensive history on the legacy of slavery. Lynching, codified racial segregation, and the emergence of over-incarceration in the 20th century, are examined in depth and brought to life through film, images, and first-person narratives at the museum. 
• At the Memorial for Peace and Justice the group will reflect on America’s History of racial injustice. Set on a six-acre site, the memorial uses sculpture, art, and design to contextualize racial terror. The site includes a memorial square with 800 six-foot monuments to symbolize thousands of racial terror lynching victims in the United States.

          The U.S. Attorneys from the following districts are attending the Selma and Montgomery events: Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Jersey, South Carolina, New Hampshire, Maine, Colorado, Nevada, Idaho, Vermont, South Dakota, Kansas, Western and Middle Districts of Louisiana,  Eastern Wisconsin, Eastern and Western Districts of Michigan, Middle District of Florida, Northern and Eastern  Districts of California, Eastern and Middle Districts of Pennsylvania, Western District of Virginia, Western District of North Carolina, Southern District of Ohio, Western District of New York, and the Southern District of West Virginia. U.S. Attorney Brown and Civil Rights Subcommittee Vice-Chair Rachel Rollins are appreciative of the work done by the Middle District of Alabama to host the delegation.

          The Attorney General’s Advisory Committee was established nearly 50 years ago by Attorney General Elliott Richardson. The Committee’s purpose is to give United States Attorneys a voice in Department policies and to advise the Attorney General of the United States.

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