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.
"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.