Civil rights icon Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.) met with Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser (D) and paid a visit to the site where the mayor had “Black Lives Matter” painted on a road that leads to the White House.
Civil Rights leader @repjohnlewis visited 16th St NW outside of the White House - now Black Lives Matter Plaza - Sunday morning. His answer to @fox5dc on his response to Saturday’s massive BLM protests: pic.twitter.com/O1LI4BJb2C
— Stephanie Ramirez (@RamirezReports) June 7, 2020
Rep. John Lewis released the following statement on recent police killings and civil unrest throughout the United States:
"Sixty-five years have passed, and I still remember the face of young Emmett Till. It was 1955. I was 15 years old — just a year older than him. What happened that summer in Money, Mississippi, and the months that followed — the recanted accusation, the sham trial, the dreaded verdict — shocked the country to its core. And it helped spur a series of non-violent events by everyday people who demanded better from our country.
“Despite real progress, I can't help but think of young Emmett today as I watch video after video after video of unarmed Black Americans being killed, and falsely accused. My heart breaks for these men and women, their families, and the country that let them down — again. My fellow Americans, this is a special moment in our history. Just as people of all faiths and no faiths, and all backgrounds, creeds, and colors banded together decades ago to fight for equality and justice in a peaceful, orderly, non-violent fashion, we must do so again.
“To the rioters here in Atlanta and across the country: I see you, and I hear you. I know your pain, your rage, your sense of despair and hopelessness. Justice has, indeed, been denied for far too long. Rioting, looting, and burning is not the way. Organize. Demonstrate. Sit-in. Stand-up. Vote. Be constructive, not destructive. History has proven time and again that non-violent, peaceful protest is the way to achieve the justice and equality that we all deserve.
“Our work won't be easy — nothing worth having ever is — but I strongly believe, as Dr. King once said, that while the arc of the moral universe is long, it bends toward justice.”
Civil rights icon Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.) endorsed former Vice President Joe Biden for president during a call with reporters on Monday and implored Americans to "vote like we never ever, ever voted before."
"It is my belief that we need Joe Biden now more than ever before," Lewis said.
"We need his voice. We need his leadership now more than ever before," he continued. "We need someone who is going to get our country on the right side of history, and help save our planet."
Angela Stanton-King, an Atlanta woman pardoned In February by President Donald Trump announced Friday she is running as a Republican for congress against civil rights icon and Georgia Democrat Rep. John Lewis.
Rep. John Lewis (D-GA) returned to the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama where he marched and was beaten for fighting for civil rights 55 years ago and gave a short speech to the crowd and to the press.
Watch that speech below:
Former President Barack Obama took to Twitter to send a message to his friend Rep. John Lewis after Lewis announced that he had stage four pancreatic cancer:
If there’s one thing I love about @RepJohnLewis, it’s his incomparable will to fight. I know he’s got a lot more of that left in him. Praying for you, my friend.
Led by African drummers, a parade of Congressional Black Caucus members, including civil rights legend Rep. John Lewis, marched into Emancipation Hall on Tuesday to mark the 400th anniversary of the first Africans brought to the English colonies.
“All of our history is what makes this country a great country,’’ said Rep. Karen Bass, D-Calif., chairwoman of the Congressional Black Caucus, noting the nation has been reluctant to embrace all of its history, including slavery.
The ceremony was held in Emancipation Hall, an ornate foyer in the Capitol Visitor Center, named after the slaves who helped build the U.S. Capitol. With a statue of abolitionist Frederick Douglass only a few feet away, Republican and Democratic leaders cited the work of civil rights activists like Douglass and the contributions of African Americans to the building of the country.
This summer marked the 400th anniversary of the arrival of a ship from Angola carrying the first Africans to the English colonies. Across the country, lawmakers, civil rights activists, national park service officials and descendants of enslaved Africans have held ceremonies to remember the country's "original sin" and the impact of chattel slavery.
Later this week, the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, Inc. will host its annual legislative conference, which will also include programs to recognize the year 1619.
As we remember and honor the 400th Anniversary of all of the enslaved Africans arrival in America, we must never forget the tragedies, successes, and contributions of all of them and all of their progeny. #400YearsLater pic.twitter.com/RlCBiYSviH
— The Black Caucus (@TheBlackCaucus) September 10, 2019
Civil Rights icon John Lewis came to Joe Biden's defense after Biden suffered backlash over his boasting of working with political adversaries, such as racist segregationists, as a lawmaker.
Noting U.S. Rep. John Lewis’ life of “raw courage,” Atlanta officials renamed a street for the civil rights icon Wednesday.
Freedom Parkway, a four-lane conduit to the Carter Center, will now be called John Lewis Freedom Parkway.
“John Lewis is synonymous with freedom,” Atlanta City Council member Andre Dickens said when explaining why that particular street was chosen. Dickens sponsored the resolution — which the council unanimously approved in December — to rename the street after Lewis.
“He has lived a life of raw courage,” Dickens said, calling Lewis the “conscience of Congress.”
Lewis encouraged the crowd to vote and called voting “the most powerful nonviolent tool we have in a democratic society.”
Renaming the street is just one way the task force assembled by Dickens plans to pay respect to the congressman. Plans to paint a mural of Lewis in the Atlanta airport in January ahead of the Super Bowl are in the works, Dickens said.
Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms also presented Lewis with the Phoenix Award — the city’s highest honor — Wednesday for his work as both a local and national leader.
“We are one people. We are one family,” Lewis said. “We will not give up on each other.”
NBA legend and civil rights activist, Bill Russell took to twitter to praise LeBron James, CNN host Don Lemon, Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), John Lewis (D-Ga.), and NFL players. Russell stated that they “must be doing something right.” if Trump is attacking them.
At this time & place for any African American, @KingJames @donlemon @RepMaxineWaters @repjohnlewis & #NFL plyrs to be criticised by @realdonaldtrump means you must be doing something right! As I have said before- Its the biggest compliment you can get. @TwitterSports @MSNBC @CNN
— TheBillRussell (@RealBillRussell) August 5, 2018
After a health scare, civil rights icon and US Rep. John Lewis of Georgia was released from the hospital Sunday evening with a "clean bill of health," his spokeswoman said.
"All tests have been completed," Brenda Jones said in a statement. "He thanks everyone who shared their thoughts, prayers and concerns during his stay."
Lewis became ill Saturday on a flight to Atlanta, CNN affiliate WSB-TV reported, quoting unnamed sources.
Lewis, 78, has represented Georgia's 5th Congressional District, which includes much of Atlanta, since first being elected in 1986.
Rep. John Lewis said he will not attend President Trump's first State of the Union after he referred to poorer nations, made up of primarily black and brown people, as "shithole countries."
The congressman, a noted 1960s civil rights leader cited Trump's derogatory comments about immigration from Haiti and African counties as his reason for not attending the address later this month.
"I think he is a racist," Lewis said.
Lewis pointed to the example of Martin Luther King Jr., whose birthday is celebrated Monday.
"He would be speaking the idea that we are one people, one family … we must learn to live together as brothers and sisters, if not, we will perish as fools," Lewis said.
President Donald Trump will participate in a separate private event at the new Civil Rights Museum in Jackson, Mississippi, on Saturday morning, rather than in the public ceremony. The decision came after the president’s plan to attend the opening erupted into controversy.
The Mississippi Department of Archives and History and the White House agreed to have a separate event after a series of noteworthy civil rights leaders and speakers decided to boycott the event and local groups planned to protest.
Trump will tour the museum and speak at a private program in the morning, and the public ceremony will begin afterward.
"I think this was a diplomatic effort that will help solve this issue," said Mike Espy, a former Mississippi congressman and secretary of agriculture who served since the early 2000s on the state’s committee to establish the museum.
“After careful consideration and conversations with church leaders, elected officials, civil right activists and many citizens of our congressional districts, we have decided not to attend or participate in the opening of the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum.
“President Trump’s attendance and his hurtful policies are an insult to the people portrayed in this civil rights museum. The struggles represented in this museum exemplify the truth of what really happened in Mississippi. President Trump’s disparaging comments about women, the disabled, immigrants and National Football League players disrespect the efforts of Fannie Lou Hamer, Aaron Henry, Medgar Evers, Robert Clark, James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, Michael Schwerner and countless others who have given their all for Mississippi to be a better place.
“After President Trump departs, we encourage all Mississippians and Americans to visit this historic civil rights museum.”
“It’s going to be very difficult for me to be there and be on the same platform with him," Lewis told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Lewis was scheduled to speak at the museum opening on Saturday in Jackson, Miss. However, he told the newspaper that Trump's attendance would be inappropriate, citing his response to an August white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Va., in which Trump said there was blame on "both sides" for violence that ensued.
“I think his presence would make a mockery of everything that people tried to do to redeem the soul of America and to make this country better,” Lewis said.
Read more: John Lewis says he may not attend Mississippi Civil Rights Museum opening if Trump is there
Civil rights figurehead Rep. John Lewis, D-Georgia, re-upped the pressure on his Republican colleagues Wednesday to pass gun control legislation in the aftermath of Sunday’s mass shooting in Las Vegas.
Lewis and several of his House Democratic colleagues held a press conference on the steps of the U.S. Capitol to honor the victims of the shooting and protest Congress’ inaction on gun control in recent years. He was joined by House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi and former Congressman Gabby Giffords, who narrowly escaped death after she was shot in the head at a constituent meet-and-greet in 2011.
“This Congress has failed the American people. As in Newtown and Aurora and Charleston and Orlando, now in Las Vegas, how many more must die? A hundred? A thousand? 10,000? A million? What is your blood price? How many more must die?” Lewis asked, according to Politico. “But there’s no number, is there? There’s no amount of blood or pain or death or suffering that would move this Congress to act. We hold moments of silence and vigil. We offer our thoughts and prayers, but it’s all a show, a placeholder until people forget.”
The group called for passage of a bill that would strengthen firearm background checks. Lawmakers also want Congress to establish a bipartisan Select Committee on Gun Violence to study the issue and recommend other potential legislation.
Their effort did not work. House Speaker Paul Ryan declined to bring up for a vote anything that would tighten gun laws and raised the prospect of punishing the Democratic lawmakers for breaking the chamber’s rules.
Minds are not likely to change this time either. Lewis reportedly approached Ryan earlier this week to see if he would come to Wednesday’s press conference, Politico reported. Ryan declined.
[SOURCE]
Never have I seen legislative action that reveals such clear disdain for the human dignity of the most vulnerable among us.— John Lewis (@repjohnlewis) May 4, 2017
Not going to sugarcoat it - this #Trumpcare bill is astonishingly evil. One of the worst bills I’ve seen in all my years in Congress.— Rep. Barbara Lee (@RepBarbaraLee) May 4, 2017
This is shameful, despicable, and #unAmerican. My fight to #ProtectOurCare is not over. Not at all. Not ever. https://t.co/FduGQSrbXc— Bonnie WatsonColeman (@RepBonnie) May 4, 2017
52 years in the House, and I can't recall such a blatant sell out of the American people for insurance companies— John Conyers, Jr. (@RepJohnConyers) May 4, 2017
#Trumpcare means higher costs, more than 24M Americans losing coverage, gutting key protections, a crushing age tax & stealing from Medicare— Rep. Marcia L. Fudge (@RepMarciaFudge) May 4, 2017
The fate of healthcare now rests in the Senate’s hands to protect the coverage of millions. Know that our fight continues. pic.twitter.com/4twQk9gQ4e— Congressmember Bass (@RepKarenBass) May 4, 2017
U.S. Rep. John Lewis is having quite a run in the literary world.
On Monday, the American Library Association released its annual list of awards for children's books and announced the Georgia Democrat received a record four prizes for "March: Book Three," the last of a graphic trilogy about his civil-rights activism and winner last fall of the National Book Award for young people's literature. The latest honors for "March," a collaboration among Lewis, congressional aide Andrew Aydin and illustrator Nate Powell, include the Coretta Scott King award for best children's book by an African-American and the Michael L. Printz Award for excellence in children's literature. All three "March" books recently reached high on best-seller lists after a harsh public exchange between Lewis and President Donald Trump, whose legitimacy Lewis has challenged.
"I'm delighted and honored that America's librarians are supporting March with these awards," Rep. Lewis, 76, said in a statement. "I love books and I love librarians. When I was growing up I tried to read every single thing I could. I hope these awards will help inspire all of our young people — and some of us not so young — to read, to learn, and to act. 'March' is a guidebook reminding us that we all must speak up and stand up for what is right, what is fair, and what is just."
[SOURCE]
Discover the inside story of the Civil Rights Movement through the eyes of one of its most iconic figures, Congressman John Lewis. March is the award-winning, #1 bestselling graphic novel trilogy recounting his life in the movement, co-written with Andrew Aydin and drawn by Nate Powell. This commemorative set contains all three volumes of March in a beautiful slipcase.
