On March 9, Martin Luther King, Jr.led more than 2,000 marchers to the Edmund Pettus Bridge. Instead, I, along with former Selma City Councilman Raymond Majors, walked in front of Dr. and Mrs. Lowery until we reached Dexter Avenue. US networks pull the plug on Trump’s live address due to ‘lies’, Kremlin denies reports Putin planning to quit amid health fears, Al Jazeera Centre for Public Liberties & Human Rights.

Online petitions to rename the bridge have been around since at least 2015, the year then-President Barack Obama and former President George W Bush visited Selma to mark the 50th anniversary of Bloody Sunday, when state troopers beat voting rights marchers as they crossed the bridge on the way to Montgomery, the capital. Lawmakers attending the latest event were visibly moved, tearing up at seeing Lewis and hearing his remarks. “While I believe the historical significance of the bridge transcends the man for which it was named, I also acknowledge that in this moment everything must be on the table, and that includes renaming the bridge,” Sewell said in a statement. “John Lewis is my hero; he’s been my hero since I was a child,” said Bland. The college is led by an African American and boasts of a state of the art Hank Sanders Technology building. While conservative Republicans may hesitate to rename the bridge in a mostly white state where President Donald Trump is overwhelmingly popular among GOP voters, each side of the renaming debate appears to have biracial support in Selma, a town of roughly 17,000 that is more than 80 percent Black. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Advance Local. That ia OK, she said, given that there is something delicious in how the name of a white supremacist has come to symbolise freedom for Black people, who still cross the old bridge each year to commemorate the events of 1965. We must do it, if we don't do it, who will do it?" Yet, the housing authority had several hundred blacks living in housing bearing his name. Lowery’s younger sister, Jo Ann Bland, who also was among the estimated 600 marchers on March 7, 1965, long opposed renaming the bridge. Lewis, a native of southeast Alabama, was at the front of the long column and was badly injured. On the day of the 1940 bridge dedication, which some 7,000 attended, a parade included a float depicting slaves. Hospitalised briefly, he went on to a career in politics and has represented Atlanta in Congress since 1987. I am not a member of the bourgeoisie band of black leaders who are called upon to tell others what to do during times of financial failings and political posturing. We did not disband after a photo-op at the foot of the Edmund Pettus bridge, but continued to Montgomery. Please continue to stay vigilant and above all, keep submitting those op-eds.” Although I am a 72 year man with failing health, I’ll try. "I want to thank each and every one of you for being here, for not giving up, not giving in, for keeping the faith, for keeping your eyes on the prize.". In 1965, John Lewis was nearly killed as he led a group of protesters across the Edmund Pettus Bridge to protest racial discrimination in voting. I have seen people who have never taken a public position on behalf of the oppressed and never suffered financial loss, on the pretense of a dollar did highjack the struggle for a full measure of freedom. Forest, a confederate general, lost the Battle of Selma, and wounded, escaped to Tennessee and founded the Ku Klux Klan. However, a police officer requested of Dr. Joseph E. Lowery, our leader, that he let a police decoy walk in his place as three KKK members had vowed to kill Dr. Lowery before he reached the capitol. Martyrs are not made by their own actions, but by the inhumane actions of those who oppose them. AC Reeves, who is white and conducts tours in the city, said the surviving veterans of the Selma civil rights movement should make the decision. across the Alabama River in Selma, Alabama.Built in 1940, it is named after Edmund Winston Pettus, a former Confederate brigadier general, U.S. senator, and leader of the Alabama Ku Klux Klan.The bridge is a steel through arch bridge with a central span of 250 feet (76 m). Alabama’s Legislature, controlled by white Republicans, would have to approve any change, said Tony Harris, a state transportation agency spokesman. On March 15, President Lyndon B. Johnson spoke on the … Today, with tens of thousands protesting nationwide against racial injustice, a years-old push is gaining steam to rename the Edmund Pettus Bridge in honour of Representative John Lewis, who led the 1965 marchers on what became known as “Bloody Sunday”. But amid widespread demonstrations since the police killing of George Floyd in Minnesota, she now tentatively supports renaming the span for local “foot soldiers”, not Lewis. Community Rules apply to all content you upload or otherwise submit to this site.

Bob Mants immediately behind them. The town newspaper printed a laudatory biography which said Pettus was “devoted wholly to the upbuilding of our state and the bringing of order out of the chaos of carpetbaggery and negro dominance” after the Civil War. The death of US Rep. John Lewis on Friday has renewed calls to rename the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama, after the civil rights legend. The body of John Lewis crossed the Edmund Pettus Bridge one last time on Sunday in what organizers described as "The Final Crossing," part of a … However, five years have past since black leaders in Selma made a strong push for the change. Some observers of activists’ efforts might conclude that this is simply a reaction to the brutal murder of Mr. George Floyd by a white policeman, while his cohorts, through their silence, gave consent. Recounts: What are the rules in key contested states? Lewis, who was beaten by white police officers so badly that day that, On Sunday, the 80-year-old Georgia Democratic congressman, who has recently been, "It is good to be in Selma, Alabama, one more time," Lewis said as he spoke to the crowd assembled on the bridge.

John Lewis: It was very moving to be back on the bridge, undergoing treatment for stage 4 pancreatic cancer, John Lewis urges attendees of Selma's 'Bloody Sunday' commemorative march to 'redeem the soul of America' by voting, Lawmakers throw civil rights icon John Lewis a Capitol Hill surprise birthday party. Bland also worries about the effect on tourism and doubts anything will happen quickly. I doubt seriously if there would have been an Acadome were it not for Reed, John Knight, et al.

Congressman John Lewis on the Edmund Pettus Bridge February 14, 2015. On August 27, 2015, the honorable Terri Sewell, congresswoman for the seventh congressional district, and member of Brown Chapel, sent a letter to me expressing thanks for my position on maintaining the name of the Edmund Pettus Bridge. Selma is home to one of several two year colleges named for Wallace or his wife, but no discomfiture is ever displayed or a name change ever demanded regarding this institution of learning. Infographic: What are Biden and Trump’s paths forward? While pastoring Brown Chapel A.M.E. Church in 1982, I joined SCLC protestors as they made a 180 mile trek from Pickens County to Montgomery’s capitol steps in protest of the unfair treatment of voting rights activists Maggie Bozeman and Julia Wilder. “What happened on that bridge changed the whole meaning of the Edmund Pettus Bridge, of Edmund Pettus to me,” Bland said. "Members of Congress, when we go back to Washington in the next few days, weeks, we've got to see that all of our people get out and vote like we've never voted before. The march has been reenacted many times on its anniversary. Alabama Media GroupAlabama Media Group, By Joseph Rembert, former Historic Brown Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Church pastor who now leads a congregation in Houston County. He is known for getting into "good trouble," and by his own count, the congressman was arrested more than 40 times during his days of civil rights activism.

However, I have made the journey for righteous reasons several times since 1982. Note to readers: if you purchase something through one of our affiliate links we may earn a commission. In an emotional scene, Lewis locked arms with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi as they marched alongside other members of Congress across the famous Edmund Pettus Bridge to mark the anniversary of the pivotal March 7,1965, march from Selma to Alabama's capital, Montgomery. At the conclusion of her letter she penned, “Reverend Rembert, again than you for stepping up and voicing your opinion with such authority on issues that are so relevant to the citizens of Selma, Dallas County, and the state as a whole. As Lewis, Pelosi and the other lawmakers walked, they sang some of the same songs that were sung by those who marched more than five decades ago, including "We Shall Overcome," the anthem of the Civil Rights Movement. The bridge was named for Pettus, who fought for the Confederacy and was a reputed KKK grand wizard who served in the US Senate at a time when Jim Crow laws gave white people near-total control in Alabama. The marchers crossed the Edmund Pettus Bridge and found themselves facing a line of state and county officers poised to attack. The Alabama House killed a 2015 resolution that would have allowed the bridge to be renamed; the former state senator who sponsored that measure, Hank Sanders, now wants to rename the span, The Bridge to Freedom, rather than for Lewis. “I followed him up on that Edmund Pettus Bridge. He died in 1907. I was so honored when Dr. Lowery requested that I give the invocation during the service on the capitol steps. But I and John were not the only ones there.”. John Lewis, a longtime Democratic representative and beloved civil rights icon, celebrated the 55th anniversary of "Bloody Sunday" in Selma, Alabama, on Sunday, paying tribute to a … "On this bridge some of us gave a little blood to help redeem the soul of America. I didn’t want to – but was willing to – die for our brave leader. CNN's Leon Jobe contributed to this report. It was not a difficult thing to sense the fervor and furor of some prominent political activists who, a few days ago, raised their voices to a fortissimo level in their push for a name change of the Edmund Pettus Bridge in historic Selma, Alabama. “The bridge is a huge piece of the tourism industry here in the city of Selma, so it’s really important that we also consider the potential economic impact that changing the name could have,” said Lydia Chatmon, who is Black and works with a group promoting tourism. I stated my opposition to the name change through an opinion offering to the Selma Times Journal newspaper.

In 2015, President Barack Obama marked the 50th anniversary of the march by delivering a speech at the foot of the Edmund Pettus Bridge, and the following year, the marchers received a Congressional Gold Medal, Congress' highest civilian honor.



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