The Rev. Jesse Jackson paid tribute to Representative John Lewis, D-Ga., A long-standing civil rights leader, in “Americas News HQ” on Sunday after the congressman died of pancreatic cancer on Friday night.
Reflecting on more than 60 years of friendship, Jackson detailed the life and legacy of the civil rights icon, telling Arthel Neville: “John Lewis represents the hope of the United States.”
The congressman’s historic fight pulled him out of protests against Jim Crow laws in the South, including the 1963 March in Washington and Selma’s march to Montgomery in Alabama in 1965 known as “Bloody Sunday,” during which Lewis led hundreds of protesters to the top. from the Edmund Pettus Bridge, and was brutally beaten and nearly killed by state police.
THE LEGACY OF JOHN LEWIS FORMED IN 1965 ON “BLOOD SUNDAY”
The moment galvanized support for the passage of the Voting Rights Act later that year, Jackson explained.
“It showed the power to vote, the power of nonviolence, the power of coalition politics,” Jackson said.
When asked if he supported the movement to rename the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Lewis’ honor, Jackson said, “It is now a bridge of hope.”
JOHN LEWIS, CIVIL RIGHTS ICON, DEAD AT 80
“The resurrection takes place not far from the crucifixion,” he explained. “People come from all over the world to see where the crucifixion took place … now it is a bridge of hope, of new possibilities,” Jackson continued. “Now, Native Americans can vote, blacks can vote … women can vote.”
Jackson said the bridge, once a symbol of tragedy, now represented a “bridge of triumph.”
He concluded: “So I think it would be appropriate to name the bridge after John Lewis.”
Fox News’ Arthel Neville contributed to this report.
