It’s a friggen movie.

WASHINGTON — John Lewis rubs the scar, still visible on his forehead, from the blow of a nightstick as Alabama state troopers assaulted the civil-rights marchers he was leading across the Edmund Pettus Bridge a half-century ago.

“I don’t pay it too much attention, but it just reminds me that some of us gave a little blood on that bridge to redeem the soul of America, to make America better,” the Georgia congressman says, recalling the day known as Bloody Sunday. “I thought I was going to die on that bridge. I thought it was the last nonviolent protest (of my life), but somehow and some way, I’m still here.” […]

“I will say, it’s good to be back in Selma, one more time, good to be back on this bridge, and I will speak of the changes that have occurred,” he said in an interview with USA TODAY’s Capital Download. “It’s a different day. Today in Selma, there’s an African-American mayor. A young African-American woman represents Selma and the Black Belt of Alabama … in the Congress.”

Which is not to say that the United States has achieved some sort of perfect post-racial society, Lewis says. He calls it “disappointing” that the movie Selma didn’t receive more Oscar recognition. While it was nominated for Best Picture and its rousing “Glory” won Best Song on Sunday, Ava DuVernay wasn’t nominated for Best Director nor David Oyelowo for Best Actor for his portrayal of Martin Luther King Jr.

“I would like to think that we came so far, we’ve made so much progress, that just maybe race didn’t play a role,” he says. “But I think many people felt something was missing.”