Renaming The Edmund Pettus Bridge Is A Terrible Idea
There is a movement underway, backed by a Change.org petition, to change the name of the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama because it is named after a despicable racist traitor. It is also the place where, 50 years ago this week, future Congressman John Lewis and many others spilled blood in simultaneous service to, and defiance of, this country. On Tuesday night’s The Last Word, host Lawrence O’Donnell took the idea a step further, suggesting a new name for the bridge. He offered a valuable history lesson on the origin of the bridge’s name, but then utterly failed to learn anything from it:
If Edmund Pettus had still been alive and in command of the Alabama State Police that day in 1965, John Lewis might not be alive today. It is long past time to change the name of the Edmund Pettus Bridge. A Change.org petition has thousands of signatures in support, and today I came upon a brilliant suggestion, changing the name of the bridge to the John Lewis Bridge. The bridge American heroes like John Lewis and Martin Luther King, Jr. marched over was named for an American disgrace. Let’s rename it for an American hero.
In fairness to O’Donnell, he’s in good company, because President Obama got some of the same things wrong in his 50th anniversary speech on Saturday. Although I have reason to believe that some of the things he said were trade-offs he made to make people more comfortable with his impassioned demands for change in the latter part of the speech, they illustrate some of the problems with O’Donnell’s thinking.
For example…READ MORE
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Copyright 2015 Liberaland
By: Tommy Christopher
Tommy Christopher is The Daily Banter's White House Correspondent and Political Analyst. He's been a political reporter and liberal commentator since 2007, and has covered the White House since the beginning of the Obama administration, first for PoliticsDaily, and then for Mediaite. Christopher is a frequent guest on a variety of television, radio, and online programs, and was the villain in the documentaries The Audacity of Democracy and Hating Breitbart. He's also That Guy Who Live-Tweeted His Own Heart Attack, and the only person to have ever received public apologies from both Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck.
3 responses to Renaming The Edmund Pettus Bridge Is A Terrible Idea
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William March 11th, 2015 at 14:22
If every bridge and road in Alabama that bears the name of a racist asshole was renamed, Cletus wouldn’t be able to find his way to the Klan meeting.
tracey marie March 11th, 2015 at 19:37
Leave the name, the bridge will be a testament for the ages on how racists were overcome by intelligence and equality, how black men and women as well as the good people in America won
Stephen Landis April 5th, 2015 at 10:42
Finally some sense, don’t people realize that might have been the damn point? King’s marches were planned, either to have some symbolism or get the most attention. What better “Screw you” then marching across a bridge named for an oppressor? Not only does erasing “Eddy’s” name from history allow us to repeat his same mistakes, it also shows that modern social crusaders really do have no understanding of their fore-bearers struggles or the reasons behind the actions they took.