Sen. Raphael Warnock

Black people had the right to vote on paper when the 15th Amendment was passed 100 years before the Civil Rights Movement, but they couldn't vote.

And so Dr. King said, my people can't vote.

And the president began to say, well, I hear what you're saying, Dr. King, but I can't get that done right now.

I don't have the power to do it.

And they left the meeting and the staff was feeling demoralized and feeling dejected.

And they said, Dr. King, what are we going to do?

The president of the United States said that he doesn't have the power right now.

doesn't have the power to get us the franchise.

And Dr. King looked at them and he said, well, if the president doesn't have the power, I guess we're gonna have to go to the South and get himself.

Here he is, an ordinary citizen.

What do you think about that?

An ordinary citizen.

He doesn't hold an office.

He's not a United States Senator.

He's the pastor of a little church on Auburn Avenue.

And he said, if the president, the most powerful man on the planet, doesn't have the power to get us our votes,

we're gonna go and get him some.

And so when you see John Lewis and Hosea Williams crossing that Edmund Pettus Bridge with brute force under the color of law on the other side, and they keep on walking, they're literally answering President Johnson's question.

They're going to get the president some power to create the context for the change that they wanna see in the world.

And I'm sitting here as a result of that.