Dem. rep. calls for 'massive, nonviolent' protests if Ferguson cop isn't indicted

Congressman John Lewis (D-Ga.) said on the Roland Martin radio show that he believes that the continuing unrest following the shooting of unarmed black teen Michael Brown by a white police officer in August is a "turning point" for the civil rights movement, and compared the racially charged protests to the violent Voting Rights Act march that took place in Selma, Alabama in 1963.
"Selma was the turning point," Lewis said. "And I think what happened in Ferguson will be the turning point."
Lewis went on to say that the nation is watching, and that within the next couple days, there will be "massive, nonviolent protests all over America" that will provoke a sense of "righteous indignation" in the American people.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
"When we were beaten on that bridge in Selma," Lewis said, "people couldn't take it, for they saw it, they heard about it, they read about it, and it lit a sense of righteous indignation. When we see a miscarriage of justice in Ferguson, they're going to have the same reaction they had towards Selma."
Missouri governor Jay Nixon has already declared a state of emergency and has authorized Missouri's National Guard to support police in case of violence ahead of the grand jury decision on whether to indict police Officer Darren Wilson in the shooting death of 18-year-old Michael Brown.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
Palestine Action: protesters or terrorists?
Talking Point Damaging RAF equipment at Brize Norton blurs line between activism and sabotage, but proscription is a drastic step
-
Trump's strikes on Iran: a 'spectacular success'?
In Depth Military humiliations 'expose the brittleness' of Tehran's ageing regime, but risk reinforcing its commitment to its nuclear program
-
5 expletive-laden cartoons about bad language
Cartoons Artists take on Trump's quest for a Nobel Peace Prize, cursing at the dinner table, and more
-
Canadian man dies in ICE custody
Speed Read A Canadian citizen with permanent US residency died at a federal detention center in Miami
-
GOP races to revise megabill after Senate rulings
Speed Read A Senate parliamentarian ruled that several changes to Medicaid included in Trump's "One Big Beautiful Bill" were not permissible
-
Supreme Court lets states ax Planned Parenthood funds
Speed Read The court ruled that Planned Parenthood cannot sue South Carolina over the state's effort to deny it funding
-
Trump plans Iran talks, insists nuke threat gone
Speed Read 'The war is done' and 'we destroyed the nuclear,' said President Trump
-
Trump embraces NATO after budget vow, charm offensive
Speed Read The president reversed course on his longstanding skepticism of the trans-Atlantic military alliance
-
Trump judge pick told DOJ to defy courts, lawyer says
Speed Read Emil Bove, a top Justice Department official nominated by Trump for a lifetime seat, stands accused of encouraging government lawyers to mislead the courts and defy judicial orders
-
Mamdani upsets Cuomo in NYC mayoral primary
Speed Read Democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani beat out Andrew Cuomo in New York City's Democratic mayoral primary
-
Supreme Court clears third-country deportations
Speed Read The court allowed Trump to temporarily resume deporting migrants to countries they aren't from