Representative John Lewis (D-GA) remembered the march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama where police attacked Civil Rights protesters marching from Selma to Montgomery on “Bloody Sunday” 50 years ago on Saturday.
Lewis thanked those in attendance at the ceremony and those who marched across the bridge with him.
Lewis said he is often asked why he comes back to Selma, to which he said, “we come to Selma to be renewed. We come to be inspired. We come to be reminded that we must do the work that justice and equality calls us to do.”
He also recalled what happened on the bridge, “we were so peaceful, so quiet, no one saying a word. We were beaten, tear gassed, some of us [were] left bloody right here on this bridge. 17 of us were hospitalized that day. But we never became bitter or hostile.”
Lewis also stated, “our country will never, ever be the same because of what happened on this bridge.” And urged those listening to “build on the legacy of the march in 1965.” He continued, “we are one people, one family: the human family. We all live in the same house, the American house, the world house. We’re black, we’re white, we are Hispanic, Asian-American, Native American, but we’re one people.”
He concluded his remarks by declaring “if someone had told me, while we were crossing this bridge, that one day I would be back here introducing the first African-American president I would have said ‘you’re crazy, you’re out of your mind, you don’t know what you’re talking about.'”
Earlier, Lewis sent out multiple tweets recalling the march 50 years ago.
I thought I saw death. I thought I was going to die. #Selma50 pic.twitter.com/AhM8ujpsYi
— John Lewis (@repjohnlewis) March 7, 2015
I had a concussion there at the bridge, and I’ve never been able to recall how we made it back. #Selma50 pic.twitter.com/AsB909DlgX
— John Lewis (@repjohnlewis) March 7, 2015
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
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