Washington, D.C. — Yesterday, Eric H. Holder, Jr., the 82nd Attorney General of the United States and Chairman of the National Democratic Redistricting Committee (NDRC), delivered remarks at Big Zion A.M.E. Zion Church in Mobile, Alabama in support of the election of Shomari Figures to Alabama’s 2nd Congressional District. 

Excerpts from the speech are below: 

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We owe a debt to those who came before us, a debt that can only be repaid by participating in the democracy they helped create. We talk about democracy in this country being forged in Revolutionary War battles—Yorktown, Valley Forge, Civil War battles like Gettysburg. But democracy, in a lot of ways, was also forged right here in Alabama. 

Bull Connor, Jim Clark, Birmingham, Selma, Montgomery—think about all the history that came out of Alabama in the 1950s and 1960s and how directly it impacted where we are now. A bunch of young people, and that’s what people tend to forget. It was young people in Alabama who decided they were sick and tired of the way they were being treated, and they tore down a system of American apartheid to make our lives possible. Without those young people, there’s no Eric Holder, no Barack Obama, no Ketanji Brown Jackson, no Kamala Harris. We stand on their shoulders, and we must never forget that.

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This country has great possibilities, but it doesn’t move on its own. It only moves when people like us decide to move it. Dr. King said that the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice. That sounds great, but the reality is that the arc doesn’t bend on its own. It only bends when people like us put our hands on it and pull it toward justice. So, each of us has to ask ourselves, ‘What am I doing to pull that arc toward justice?’ One way is by making sure this young man becomes the next Congressman from the second district. That’s pulling the arc toward justice.

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The tough stuff—the foundation—has been laid. Let’s build the house of justice, equality, and fairness we need. We can do this. I have confidence, and I’m optimistic about it.

So, I’ll end the same way I’ve heard many end: When we fight, we win. When we vote, we win. Are you all fired up? Are you ready to go? Let’s make him the next Congressman. Let’s do this.

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