Clyburn renews calls to rename Edmund Pettus Bridge for John Lewis

Rep. Jim Clyburn called for Edmund Pettus Bridge to be renamed for John Lewis, the late civil rights icon who was marching during "Bloody Sunday" when peaceful demonstrators were beaten there by Alabama state troopers in 1965.

"Edmund Pettus was a grand wizard of the Ku Klux Klan. Take his name off that bridge and replace it with a good man, John Lewis, the personification of the goodness of America, rather than to honor someone who disrespected individual freedoms," Clyburn (D-S.C.) said in an interview on NBC News' "Meet the Press" to be broadcast in full Sunday.

Lewis, who died Friday after a battle with cancer, had his skull fractured by police in Selma, Ala., while leading marchers across the bridge toward Montgomery. The state troopers assailed the demonstrators with tear gas and clubs after the march leaders stopped to pray.