John Robert Lewis, the son of sharecroppers who survived a brutal beating by police during a landmark 1965 march in Selma, Alabama, to become a towering figure of the civil rights movement and a longtime US congressman, has died after a six-month battle with cancer. He was 80.
Lewis, a Democrat who served as the US representative for Georgia's 5th congressional district for more than three decades, was widely seen as a moral conscience of Congress because of his decades-long embodiment of nonviolent fight for civil rights. His passionate oratory was backed by a long record of action that included, by his count, more than 40 arrests while demonstrating against racial and social injustice.
A follower and colleague of Martin Luther King Jr., he participated in lunch counter sit-ins, joined the Freedom Riders in challenging segregated buses and — at the age of 23 — was a keynote speaker at the historic 1963 March on Washington.
"Sometimes when I look back and think about it, how did we do what we did? How did we succeed? We didn't have a website. We didn't have a cellular telephone," Lewis has said of the civil rights movement.
"But I felt when we were sitting in at those lunch counter stools, or going on the Freedom Ride, or marching from Selma to Montgomery, there was a power and a force. God Almighty was there with us."
Lewis has said King inspired his activism. Angered by the unfairness of the Jim Crow South, he launched what he called "good trouble" with organized protests and sit-ins. In the early 1960s, he was a Freedom Rider, challenging segregation at interstate bus terminals across the South and in the nation's capital.
"We do not want our freedom gradual; we want to be free now," he said at the time.
At age 25, Lewis helped lead a march for voting rights on the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, where he and other marchers were met by heavily armed state and local police who attacked them with clubs, fracturing Lewis' skull. Images from that "Bloody Sunday" shocked the nation and galvanized support for the Voting Rights Act of 1965, signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson.
"I gave a little blood on that bridge," he said years later. "I thought I was going to die. I thought I saw death."
Despite the attack and other beatings, Lewis never lost his activist spirit, taking it from protests to politics. He was elected to the Atlanta city council in 1981, then to Congress six years later.
#JohnLewis #CNN #News
RIP John Lewis. We will look for you on the other side dear brother. 😭
Ol’ black Joe biden, her that’ll be unique a lawn jockey in a trailer…. POS!
@Larry Cole Why don’t you hurry and get to your lake of fire you claim so openly! You can take your Emperor Orange with you.
Evil racist and an Affirmative Action congressman.
John Brown. What is the name of the otherside? Joe Biden said: All men are created by the thing. Ha ha ha ha ha, What is the name of the thing?
https://youtu.be/hPZ9NglFfI0🇺🇸
One time I saw him with his family in a restaurant on a mother’s day years ago. I didn’t want to say anything because he was clearly eating and having a celebration with his family. He heard my mother say his name and came over to greet us.
@Dan Rush
Hey don’t joke about hell. He may have got saved during his sickness or he could have asked the Lord into his life on his deathbed.
I’m not a fan of Lewis but I hope he repented
@Dan Rush It has to be Better than the place trump goes to with his BASE of idiots, how does that feel, to be an IDIOT?
That’s cool. Must be a cool dude
@Dan Rush How do you know, Dan?
and you are….. black??
So why don’t we have a statue of him?!
Julie crane go back to your trailer trash home and take care of your 13 kids and your still looking for nine of the fathers
PUT IT DOWN!!
@Bobbi Floss i guess the statue for accomplishment means nothing
Democrats were the confederates. All confederate statues are being vandalized. https://youtu.be/g_a7dQXilCo
Bobbi Floss
Then build it in white color 💀
😹😹😹😹😹😹
He ran his race and by doing so helped clear a path for others to run theirs too. RIP😔
by “ran his race” I truly hope you aren’t implying this man was a Christian servant of God?
https://youtu.be/JFCRkc3Z9a4 tribute
Yes he was an amazing human being. Hopefully we can groom many many more. Please watch my series I married a white guy now 3 racist judges….. PLEASE FOLLOW MY JOURNEY AND SHARE WITH OTHERS. THANKS I ADVANCE!
https://youtu.be/hPZ9NglFfI0🇺🇸
He was democrat. They founded the KKK
” It’s not how you start. It’s how you finish. “……
SAY THAT AGAIN!!! PLEASE WATCH MY VIDEO SERIES. I MARREID A WHITE GUY!
“Speak up. Speak out. Get into good trouble”
Rest In Power Sir.
Dresdan. First time learn from you there is “good trouble.” So COVID-19 is good trouble??? Ha ha ha ha ha ha. What is rest in power? Dead men have power!
Haha 😹😹 idiots
So heartbroken😪 I was so happy to see him when He came to DC to see the Black Lives Matter plaza. I thought he looked great. He never relented on his struggles and commitment to justice and equality. His final trip to DC to witness and see in his own eyes was a testimony to his Heroism. Not beating in the head, Not being hosed down, pushed and shoved and being called names by racists, NOT even dieing from cancer stopped this Hero’s life long commitment to justice and equality. Rest in heavenly peace, Mr. Lewis. You are in good comany now; with all the giants that have passed on before you. Please, tell them all their struggles wasn’t in vein. America has come to a reckoning with its passed sins. See.you at the capital. I will stand in the long lines to pay my respect. Thsnk You, Sir.
A true hero, a giant. I remember watching the news, Selma the courage of the Marchers.
BY BY RACIST!!!! RUTHY BATTER UP!!!!!
I went to DC to see him, but as soon as I arrived, a mob yelled “Kill the white man!!!” and I was hit in the head with a brick.
The devil told him to drop the suitcase, “Your stolen money is no good here.”
Black Lives Matter – You’ll love this! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1jZZQ-YdVno
Will his family get to take over his seat
“NEVER BE AFRAID OF GOOD TROUBLE” GOODBYE CIVIL RIGHTS GIANT JOHN R LEWIS. RIP 1940-2020 RIP CT VIVIAN
@Democrats jerk off to Desmond is amazing my oh my, are you just plain stupid enough to think anyone is going to believe you or are you just a troll?
Heb 9:27 NKJV And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment,
Hopefully he knows Christ and more importantly , Christ knows him.
Luk 13:27 NKJV “But He will say, ‘I tell you I do not know you, where you are from. Depart from Me, all you workers of iniquity.’
People this is not a game. Your eternity depends on it.
@Arzell Rodgers Exactly!!!
hes a thug
I was saddened by the news of Mr. Lewis’s death. I loved that he always took a stand and made “good trouble!” We will continue the fight with bravery, truth, and courage.
He won’t be missed.
@Jamie Jay Either will you
@Pauly T I would miss Jamie. 🤷🏻♂️
I like that you plan to continue the fight. Please watch my video series I Married a White Guy. I need help fighting my fight. Any and all help is appreciated.
You’re the only sad one 😹😹😹😹😹😹😹😹😹😹😹😹USA is celebrating 🥳🎉🎊🎈
Maybe now Atlanta can elect a Representative that will improve the downward path Atlanta has been on for the last 40 years…
They’ll just elect another race baiting huckster.
amen
Pelosi walking next to him, arm in arm. Pelosi. Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. Debbie Wasserman Shultz. Hmmmmmmmmmmmm. Seth Rich.
Many of dems leaders will choose suicide over prison time
Hillary and Piglosi next please.
@Ol’ Black Joe Biden Michael avennetti likes it🤫😉
@Mueller Time where have you been? America has been expecting you for several years now.
@Ol’ Black Joe Biden I’ve been hanging out with joe McFish fingers in his basement plotting his revenge on corn Pop.
@Mark Oliver …Followed by Trump and Mark Meadows……thank you.
Fox News disabled comments on their John Lewis videos. They know their racist viewers too well.
FOX NEWS doesn’t want you to see this – Black Lives Matter – You guys are gonna love this! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1jZZQ-YdVno
Wow, he did so much to help Atlanta, lol.
He did
@Fajitahmed He did NOTHING
he will be doing all that can be done through his name and all of his work from this new home of light and love, that he stood for. be of love and not hate.
his new home is hell forever
Lewis got lost in an ocean or race-baiting whiners, a hallmark of the Democrap Party
Ok…. and?
Yes he was pure at on time , sad what happens to people caught up in politics 😢
HE’S NOT AN ICON TO MY LATINO PEOPLE!!! HE GOT RICH ON THE BACKS OF ALL!!!
Jay Ramon you’re right!These People Talking about how great he was are idiots and fools who are easily manipulated by the NWO media!!!
He was helping Latino and black people because they were discriminated against stfu
We’re not talking about Latinos. There talking about his legacy
@SuperThunderGoodGuy SCREW HIS LEGACY, 30 PLUS YEARS MAKING HIMSELF RICH BY SELLING OUT TO THE POWERS THAT BE… THEN COME OUT AND GIVE SPEECHES AS IF HE’S ON THE POOR AND “MINORITIES” SIDE… I’M A BLACK SKIN LATINO AND I DON’T CARE FOR HIS SO CALLED LEGACY… GOOD RIDDANCE… HE’LL BE FORGOTTEN IN 6 DAYS…
Finally some good news.
CONGRESS AND THE SENATE NEED 4 OR 8 YEAR TERMS AND NO MORE AFTER THAT…