NATIONAL HEADLINES & ADVOCACY NOTEBOOK

Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch Delivers Final Speech as Attorney General at 16th Street Baptist Church in Commemoration of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

To Pastor [Arthur] Price and the members of this storied church; to Congresswoman [Terri] Sewell, one of our strong voices on the Hill; to the elected officials of this great state; to Mayor [William] Bell and the leaders of this forward-leaning city; to all who have come out today to honor the life and legacy of Dr. King; to all who work for freedom and equality: I bring you greetings from the city of Washington, D.C., and the entire Obama Administration.

To my colleague, my friend, U.S. Attorney Joyce Vance, thank you for that kind introduction.  To you and U.S. Attorneys [Gregory] Davis and [George] Beck, thank you for your work over the years on behalf of the American people.

I am delighted to be back in Birmingham.  It is a pleasure to be here, and it is an honor to stand before you in this beautiful and historic sanctuary, whose significance to our nation’s history was formally recognized just last week by President Obama, who designated 16th St. Baptist Church as part of the new Birmingham Civil Rights National Monument.  I want to congratulate you on this high honor, and I share your joy that 16th St. Baptist – along with Kelly Ingram Park – will be preserved and protected for generations to come, ensuring that Americans will always know of Birmingham’s heroic contribution to the civil rights movement.  They will also know that this is a living monument, just as this is an active and vibrant church, honoring the past but also very much working on the issues of today.

Standing in this house of worship reminds me of Jacob’s words in Exodus: “Surely the Lord is in this place.”  Generations of men and women have found the Lord in 16th St. Baptist Church.  They have come here in times of joy and seasons of sorrow.  They have come here to lament and to praise; to mourn and to celebrate; to bury and to baptize.  They have come here inspired by the unseen promise of God’s kingdom – that “every valley shall be raised up, and every hill made low.”  And more than that, they have come here to work – to do the hard and often dangerous work of pushing America to make good on its pledge “that all men are created equal.”
Ref. https://www.justice.gov/opa/speech/attorney-general-loretta-e-lynch-delivers-final-speech-attorney-general-16th-street


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