Posted on 07/17/2020 9:13:11 PM PDT by bitt
Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.), the renowned civil rights leader who served as a symbol of the movement throughout his more than three decades in Congress, died Friday at the age of 80.
From the steps of the Lincoln Memorial during the March on Washington to the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Ala. on “Bloody Sunday,” Lewis decisively carved a place for himself in the history books as a courageous young activist during the height of the civil rights movement.
He was elected to Congress in 1986 and served 17 terms representing an Atlanta-area district. While in Congress, Lewis served as a physical reminder of how far the country had come on civil rights — and how much more was left to be done.
The Congressional Black Caucus (CBC), of which Lewis was one of its most senior members, mourned that “the world has lost a legend.”
“The Congressional Black Caucus is known as the Conscience of the Congress. John Lewis was known as the conscience of our caucus,” the CBC said in a statement. Lewis, the youngest keynote speaker at the March on Washington in 1963, was the only person who delivered remarks at the event to witness Barack Obama winning election as the nation’s first African American president 45 years later.
When Lewis asked Obama to sign a commemorative photograph at his 2009 inauguration, the newly sworn-in president wrote: “Because of you, John.”
Lewis was born on Feb. 21, 1940 to a family of sharecroppers on a farm outside of Troy, Ala., and attended segregated public schools. Inspired by the activism demonstrated by Montgomery Bus Boycott and Martin Luther King, Jr., Lewis began his work of what he liked to call “good trouble.”
Lewis started his civil rights activism by organizing sit-in demonstrations at segregated lunch counters in Nashville,
(Excerpt) Read more at thehill.com ...
Indeed. Wellstone to the 110th Power.
That was Elijah Cummings of Baltimore, Md.
I wonder if he will get a horse drawn carriage and be buried in a gold coffin. Maybe that is only for common criminals, in Minneapolis. Come to think of it.........
He won't have to skip any more of President Trump's State of the Union speeches. Ha ha ha ha!!!
Lewis was an activist before, during and throughout his term but his district was a mess to say the least.
I actually did have a “favorite” Democrat once - Zell Miller. Was not your modern day race baiter, he should have been a Republican.
He was a racist piece of garbage, on the same order as KKK Byrd was. Rest in torment, you piece of crap.
Wonder if Walters thinks she’s next?
Wonder if Walters thinks she’s next?
Campfire? I think it will be a huge conflagration, mixed with a rather large amount of brimstone. 😁🤗
John Legend probably expects to be asked to sing or read the Eulogy. Gosh, it will be like “Grieving With The Stars!”
Me too....
Thanks. I wondered if he was the one and too lazy to click over to the article. And as with all these lefties, even after being diagnosed with this terrible affliction, he refused to retire and help a successor, like Teddy Kennedy. What is it about the job that makes them so selfish?
He may have been a legend in his own mind but the reality is that he was a gaping racist butt-hole.
Must. Not. Speak. My. Mind.
I only have one thing to say...
One more House seat up for grabs...
Agree!
They will be the only ones grieving.
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