Georgia Rep. John Lewis was one of hundreds of peaceful voting-rights activists who were beaten 50 years ago on Bloody Sunday as the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. led them on a march from Selma to Montgomery, Ala. He recalls the event on “Democracy Now!”

Lewis told the program: “I was hit in the head by a state trooper with a nightstick. I had a concussion at the bridge. My legs went out from under me. I felt like I was going to die. I thought I saw death. All these many years later, I don’t recall how I made it back across that bridge to the church.”

— Posted by Alexander Reed Kelly.

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#alabama#civil rights#john lewis#martin luther king jr#police brutality#selma#video#voting rights