The legacy of civil rights icon John Lewis

Brut America

He took the civil rights fight from the streets to Congress. Today, John Lewis's legacy is more relevant than ever, as explored in the documentary "John Lewis: Good Trouble."

Transcript

00:00Just as John Lewis looked to the activists that came before him for inspiration,

00:08I hope that Black Lives Matter activists look to John Lewis and his contemporaries for inspiration.

00:16I hope many more young Black men will be murdered.

00:25That the madness must stop.

00:30One of the things that I think resonates so deeply with him is the mass protest,

00:57the showing up day in and day out and refusing to take no for an answer, like insisting on being heard.

01:16Tulsa, Oklahoma was a thriving Black community where Blacks had a lot of economic advancement.

01:24It was known as the Black Wall Street.

01:27And there was a false allegation against a Black man of, you know, rape of a white woman.

01:34Very typical false allegation that led to massive looting, rioting, and violence and completely destroyed.

01:46I mean, when you see the pictures of Tulsa, imagine a thriving Black community completely obliterated.

01:52So for Trump to say that he's holding a rally on the day that slavery ended on the site of a massive, you know,

02:03looting and rioting and leveling of a Black community is incredibly offensive.

02:08I think people who are progressive and who believe in equality for all people, you know,

02:14we wanted to do something that would recognize that America, because that is the America that we believe in.

02:20And so what is more American than programming a film about John Lewis on that sacred day, on that sacred site?

02:50We were beaten, tear gassed.

03:03Some of us was left bloody right here on this bridge.

03:08Seventeen of us were hospitalized that day.

03:12But we never became bitter or hostile.

03:15We kept believing that the truth we stood for would have the following say.

03:21Symbols matter. And the idea that that bridge is named for a segregationist is named for a person who believed in inequality.

03:31It's time to address those symbols. That bridge is synonymous with the action that Mr.

03:37Lewis took and the other civil rights workers.

03:41And I think that it would be a forever reminder of what happened on that bridge.

03:48You know, President Obama on the 50th anniversary of the Selma March said, what could be more American than what happened on this bridge?

03:56And by that he meant young people, Black and white, standing up for their rights and saying America is a place for all.

04:06So I know Mr. Lewis is incredibly excited about even the possibility of renaming that bridge.

04:13And I very much hope for not only his sake, but for all of our sake, that that is something that actually happens.

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