“I believe that will give the people of Selma something to rally around.”, Death of John Lewis Fuels Movement to Rename Edmund Pettus Bridge. The petition to rename the bridge was created by political strategist Michael Starr Hopkins, who told NBC News Monday that the idea came to him as he was watching the 2014 film … That was the most significant piece of legislation in the last century. Joined by Coretta Scott King and John Lewis, then of the Voter Education Project, a crowd estimated at 5,000 people marches across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Ala., on March 8, 1975, to mark the 10th anniversary of the "Bloody Sunday" civil rights march.
"I was kind of taking an evening to just relax and watch some movies, and as I was watching 'Selma' I realized we wait far too often until people are gone to honor them," Hopkins said. "I've just signed a petition about this bridge to dignity as seen in SELMA. Filmmaker Ava DuVernay joined the call to rename the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama — dedicated to a dead Confederate general and Ku Klux Klan leader — to honor civil rights icon Rep. John Lewis.. Edmund Pettus Bridge should be the John Lewis Bridge. “We must confront and reject Alabama’s racist history and come together to implement the bold changes needed to ensure our nation finally lives up to its promise of equality and justice for all,” Sewell added. "Edmund Pettus was a bitter racist, undeserving of the honor bestowed upon him. (Source: WSFA 12 News) By Bryan Henry and WSFA Staff | June 16, 2020 at 7:00 AM CDT - Updated June 16 at 8:19 PM . Michael Starr Hopkins, 33, launched a petition for the name change on June 17 in hopes the bridge would be renamed while Lewis was still alive. Those protests have rekindled a debate over statues and other monuments celebrating the Confederacy. Several high-profile figures have signed the petition, including Ava DuVernay, who directed the 2014 film “Selma,” an Oscar-nominated historical drama that centered on the civil rights marches in Alabama. ", Like us on Facebook to see similar stories, Pregnancy and loss during a pandemic: Stephanie Land tells her story, Walmart sells UK grocer Asda for $8.8 billion, More than 100K sign petition to rename Edmund Pettus Bridge after John Lewis, "It's far past time to rename the Edmund Pettus Bridge after Rep. John Lewis, a civil rights icon that nearly gave his life on that bridge," political strategist Michael Starr Hopkins said in the description of the, The bridge was named for Pettus in1940, more than three decades after Pettus's death. Tourism leaders say travelers spent $87 million in Dallas County in 2019, up 14 percent from the year before. SELMA, Ala. (WSFA) - What’s in a name? Rep. Terri Sewell (D-Ala.), who represents the district that includes the Edmund Pettus Bridge, told AL.com she now supports renaming the bridge for Lewis, a position she had publicly opposed in 2015 amid a push to rename the bridge.
He added: “Take his name off that bridge and replace it with a good man — John Lewis, the personification of the goodness of America — rather than to honor someone who disrespected individual freedoms.”. Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.) echoed the call to rename the bridge in an interview with NBC’s “Meet the Press.”. The bridge is named after Alabama native Edmund Pettus, a Confederate general in the Civil War whose family profited from slavery, according to Smithsonian Magazine. A name change isn’t as simple as it sounds, either. It’s current name just shows how much further we have to go as a people. Kay Ivey (R) had more than 100,000 signatures as of Monday evening. Noting the change in her position, Sewell said it's a "different time and we all have to evolve.". Pettus was a Confederate general and a leader in the Alabama Ku Klux Klan, according to, "There's a righteous irony there, sweet justice, that a bridge named after a man who inflamed hatred, racial hatred is now known worldwide as a symbol of equality and justice," Sewell told. Growing push to rename Selma's Edmund Pettus Bridge after Rep. John Lewis, deadly arrest of George Floyd in Minneapolis, systemic racism in institutions that have marginalized Black Americans, take down monuments and dedications to Confederate generals. “I do believe this moment is different,” Sewell, the only African-American member of the state’s Congressional delegation, said Tuesday. Will you do the same? Part of HuffPost Politics. All rights reserved. What happened on March 7, 1965, was domestic terrorism," Bland said. “I think you ought to take a nice picture of that bridge with Pettus’s name on it, put it in a museum somewhere dedicated to the Confederacy, and then rename that bridge and repaint it, redecorate it the John R. Lewis Bridge,” said Mr. Clyburn, Democrat of South Carolina. (Source: WSFA 12 News) By Bryan Henry and WSFA Staff | June 16, 2020 at 8:00 AM EDT - Updated June 16 at 9:19 PM . "I was kind of taking an evening to just relax and watch some movies, and as I was watching 'Selma' I realized we wait far too often until people are gone to honor them," Hopkins said. Representative Terri Sewell, Democrat of Alabama, said in a statement that although she understood the desire to honor Mr. Lewis’s legacy, a decision to rename the bridge should be made locally in Selma. "I can't ask my colleagues to make a change in their views if I'm not willing to look at all of mine," she added. Ava DuVernay, the director of the 2014 film "Selma" that depicts the march, tweeted on Saturday that she had signed the petition and encouraged others to do so, too. The petition that’s circulating calls for renaming the bridge after U.S. Rep. John Lewis, a Troy native who represents a Congressional district in Georgia. “The name Edmund Pettus no longer is about Edmund Pettus from the Civil War, from the Confederacy,” said Collins Pettaway III, a political communications specialist and a Selma native. Arguments to keep the monuments up for the sake of history feel disingenuous, Hopkins said. Join this call. “Print media is quite costly now,” said Sheryl Smedley of the Selma and Dallas County Chamber of Commerce and Tourism Information. An online petition created last month to rename the Edmund Pettus Bridge after Mr. Lewis has garnered over 400,000 signatures, including that of the director Ava DuVernay, whose Oscar-nominated film “Selma” recreated the Bloody Sunday confrontation. The push to rename the bridge comes as activists across the country are calling for statues and memorials commemorating Confederate figures to be taken down as nationwide protests continue over racial inequality and police brutality. Not a murderer. It's past due.". He said the sustained protests and calls for change in the wake of Floyd's death have given him renewed faith in people. . Rep. John Lewis addressed marchers on the Edmund Pettus Bridge during the 55th anniversary of Bloody Sunday this year. Named for a hero. Police charged at the marchers, beating them with clubs and firing tear gas at them in an incident that became known as “Bloody Sunday.”, The John Lewis Bridge Project, launched last month, seeks to rename the bridge that crosses the Alabama River after the civil rights icon and to remove “other existing signs of the Confederacy.”. Bryan Henry is a reporter Monday through Friday for WSFA 12 News. “It’s far past time to rename the Edmund Pettus Bridge after Rep. John Lewis, a civil rights icon that nearly gave his life on that bridge,” Michael Starr Hopkins, a political strategist who created the project, said in a statement. That depends on historical perspective when it comes to the Edmund Pettus Bridge in … After the war, Pettus settled in Selma, where he became a U.S. senator and a Grand Dragon in the KKK. An 18-wheeler overturned at I-59 north at the I-65 on-ramp causing a major backup. The petition … Jo Ann Bland, for one, prefers to leave it alone. At just 11-years-old, she was among the original foot soldiers on that day, thought she was not among those attacked. The protests were sparked by the killing of George Floyd on Memorial Day. Congresswoman Terri Sewell, D-District 7, is throwing her full support behind the name-change effort mere weeks after George Floyd’s death in Minneapolis. Many of them came to see the bridge, walk across it to step back in time to imagine that day in 1965 when Alabama State Troopers beat marchers trying to pass over the bridge on their way to Montgomery. "It's far past time to rename the Edmund Pettus Bridge after Rep. John Lewis, a civil rights icon that nearly gave his life on that bridge," political strategist Michael Starr Hopkins said in the description of the online petition he created. Over 99,000 people support the effort to rename the civil rights landmark in Selma, Alabama, which honors a Confederate general and KKK leader. Alan Reese, a grandson of the Rev. But it would take another 25 years before the name and images from that span would be seared into American history with the events of “Bloody Sunday” in 1965. Full coverage of George Floyd's death and protests around the country. Sign up for membership to become a founding member and help shape HuffPost's next chapter, Register to vote and apply for an absentee ballot today. Named for a hero.
SELMA, Ala. (WSFA) - What’s in a name? In 2015, a resolution to rename the bridge was defeated in the Alabama House of Representatives. “As a daughter of Selma, I understand the complexities surrounding the renaming of the bridge, and while I personally can think of no better name than that of John Lewis, I ultimately believe the Selma community should decide who it is named after,” Ms. Sewell said. Former Alabama state Sen. Hank Sanders tried five years ago to have the name changed in the Alabama Senate but the House put the brakes on it and it went nowhere. At this point, we need to change hearts.
110K sign petition to rename Edmund Pettus Bridge, site of ‘Bloody Sunday’ Edmund Pettus Bridge, site of the 1965 attack dubbed 'Bloody Sunday'. On March 7, 1965, known as "Bloody Sunday," the peaceful protesters who marched across the bridge were attacked by state troopers with tear gas and clubs. Pettus is long gone, buried in the older section of Live Oaks Cemetery in Selma. 1720 Valley View DriveBirmingham, AL 35209(205) 322-6666.
Named after a former Confederate general and Ku Klux Klan leader, the bridge became the focus of national attention on March 7, 1965, when Alabama state troopers beat demonstrators who were marching for Black voting rights in what became known as Bloody Sunday. An online petition created last month to rename the Edmund Pettus Bridge after Mr. Lewis has garnered over 400,000 signatures, including that of … She said she supports naming the bridge after Lewis, calling him the "clearly" the "only person's name that should be on the bridge. "What was meant for evil, God used it for good. “One of the most American things to do is to petition your fellow citizens to get change,” Michael Starr Hopkins, who started the petition, said in an interview on Saturday. https://t.co/EZqu7ic0bU. “My primary focus is on extending the rights of the living and not on the transgressions of the dead," Sewell said. It is a costly move, especially when you factor in all the marketing materials and signage. Some Selma residents — including civil rights activists — have voiced reluctance about changing the bridge’s name. The death of Representative John Lewis on Friday has renewed interest in a campaign to rename the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Ala., the site of a turning point in the fight for civil rights.
We must be willing to do the easy things so that we can focus on making transformational change.”. The deadly arrest of George Floyd in Minneapolis on May 25 reignited conversations about longstanding racial inequalities in the country, leading to weeks of protests and marches to disrupt systemic racism in institutions that have marginalized Black Americans. The bridge, which crosses the Alabama River, was dedicated in 1940 and named for Pettus, a lawyer and United States senator who was also a decorated Confederate general and a leader of the Alabama Ku Klux Klan.
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