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Pastors across the nation are choosing sides when it comes to today’s confirmation hearing to decide if Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions will become the next U.S. Attorney General.

Rev. William Barber led an interfaith group of clergy on a moral march on Monday to protest Sen. Sessions’ nomination, while a group of Black pastors held a press conference in Washington, D.C. to support the nomination of President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to be the next Attorney General of the United States.

The group included Bishop Harry Jackson, Senior Pastor of Hope Christian Church; Dr. William Merritt, the State Field Director for the North Carolina Southern Christian Leadership Conference; Bishop Kyle Searcy, and Rev. William Green from Fresh Anointing House of Worship in Montgomery, Alabama.

Those who spoke at the presser praised Sessions’ work fighting for civil rights and desegregating schools. On Tuesday’s edition of NewsOne Now, Roland Martin sought proof of Sessions’ civil rights record.

Martin asked where Sessions stands on issues important to African-Americans and said, “Jeff Sessions wants more mandatory minimums; Jeff Sessions is not there on the Voting Rights Acts; Jeff Sessions simply didn’t say anything when it came to the massive voter suppression taking place in North Carolina––So I’m not playing the game of racist, not racist … I’m focused on what he has done in the last eight years.”

Martin continued to ask for proof of Sessions’ work on issues related to civil rights said, “Where is the evidence … anybody can provide it to me,” and intensified his demand for proof, asking was Sen. Sessions “willing to stand up on behalf of Black voters when it came to voting rights?”

Left-leaning NewsOne Now panelist Angela Sailor, Deputy to the Chairman of The Gloucester Institute, was unable to specifically state where Sessions has fought for the voting rights of African-Americans, attempting to focus on whether or not the Attorney General nominee is racist.

Later, Martin asked, “Will Jeff Sessions fight for folks when it comes to voting rights? … So I don’t want to hear nothing about how nice he is, how wonderful he is, how congenial he is … I want to know about policy.”

Watch Roland Martin and the NewsOne Now panel discuss the confirmation hearings of Jeff Sessions in the video clip above.

Watch NewsOne Now with Roland Martin, in its new time slot on TV One.

SEE ALSO:

Jeff Sessions Claims To Have ‘Filed 20 Or 30’ Desegregation Cases As Alabama U.S. Attorney

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