More than 100,000 people have signed on in support of renaming the Edmund Pettus Bridge after civil rights icon John Lewis. Rep. John Lewis famously participated in the march across that bridge alongside Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in 1965. During the march, Lewis, along with nearly 60 others, suffered severed injuries at the demonstration.
“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,” the petitions description states.
This is the petition that I just mentioned on MSNBC w/ ?@AlexWitt?. Let’s take the name of a KKK grand wizard off the bridge and put a hero’s name up instead.
Petition · Governor of Alabama : Rename the Edmund Pettus Bridge after Rep John Lewis https://t.co/k8Uc7cvx3I
— MichaelStarr Hopkins (@Theonlyhonest) June 13, 2020
“Edmund Pettus was a bitter racist, undeserving of the honor bestowed upon him. As we wipe away this country’s long stain of bigotry, we must also wipe away the names of men like Edmund Pettus,” the petition adds.
The decision to rename the bridge will be in the hands of Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey. Ivey’s team has not yet provided a comment on the matter.
