John Lewis takes his final journey to Selma bridge [Video]

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:

• John Lewis’ body crossed the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama on Sunday for one last time as the crowd mournfully witnessed the event.
• Escorted by Alabama storm troopers, Lewis’ casket crossed the bridge together with his family and chief of staff who wore shirts that read “Good Trouble.”
• Calls to renaming the Edmund Pettus Bridge to the late congressman have grown over his passing. A petition to rename the Selma Bridge after John Lewis was commissioned last month.

For the last time, the remains of the late representative and civil rights leader John Lewis crossed the Edmund Pettus Bridge 55 years after leading the peaceful march and faced a fatal encounter with the police.

Lewis’ body was placed into a horse-drawn caisson at the Brown Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Church on Sunday. The funeral service was open to the public and permitted visitors to stay in line to honor the late congressman. Crowds stayed at roughly one kilometer to the foot of the bridge.

During a chapel ceremony, Representative Terri Sewell gave his gratitude to the bereaved family for sharing Lewis’ life with the people.

“Our nation is better off because of John Robert Lewis… My life is better, Selma is better, this nation and this world is better because of John Robert Lewis,” Sewell said.

Lewis’ body was escorted by Alabama state troopers across the bridge, where crowds solemnly witnessed. He was escorted up to the state capitol.

“His final march, that final crossing, so different than the first, speaks to the legacy that he leaves behind and the lives that he changed,” Sewell said. “It’s poetic justice that this time, Alabama state troopers will see John to his safety. “

The witnessing crowd sang as Lewis’ caisson approached the bridge. Then there was total silence as the civil rights icon’s casket started to cross the bridge. He was joined by his family ━ his son, brothers, sister, and chief of staff. They wore shirts that read “Good Trouble,” a tribute to Lewis’ activist stance.

Last month, political strategist Michael Starr Hopkins led a petition to rename the Edmund Pettus Bridge after John Lewis. At that time, Hopkins told NBC News that the idea came when he watched the “Selma” film by Ava Duvernay amid the recent nationwide protests against social injustice and police brutality.

Lewis’ death has further gained public support to rename the bridge, which is currently named after a Confederate general and KKK leader who supported racism and slavery.

However, Selma officials don’t agree with the suggestion, the Associated Press reported. Alabama Representative Prince Chesnut, whose legislative jurisdiction covers Selma, said it would be inappropriate to have the bridge be renamed after Lewis’ alone.

“There were many Selmians and Alabamians who were either on the bridge in March 1965, near the vicinity or precipitated the situation that changed this country for the better. John was not the only one,” Chestnut told The AP.