Senator Warner says he was “tremendously moved” after joining Georgia U.S. Rep. John Lewis and three-dozen colleagues this weekend for the Congressional Civil Rights Pilgrimage through Alabama. The annual event included stops in Tuscaloosa, Montgomery and Birmingham, and culminated in Sunday’s march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma.

That’s where police beat Mr. Lewis and his fellow marchers during a nonviolent demonstration in 1965.

“The courage of individuals like John Lewis was remarkable – just incredible,” Senator Warner said. “Throughout all of these moving events during the weekend, I picked-up a real desire by many of my colleagues – from both parties, and from both chambers – to work harder at coming together to make positive change on behalf of the  American people. At least, I hope that’s one result of our pilgrimage.”

On Saturday night, Montgomery’s current police chief brought Rep. Lewis to tears when he gave the Congressman the badge pinned to his uniform in a gesture of reconciliation. Chief Kevin Murphy apologized to the civil rights leader for his department’s failure to protect the Freedom Riders during a trip to Montgomery in 1961, when Lewis and fellow civil rights activists were beaten by a mob at the Montgomery bus station