Remembering John Lewis on the anniversary of 'Bloody Sunday' as President Biden signs an executive order to enhance voter access....Ohio Congresswoman Marcia L. Fudge comments
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Former United States president Barack Obama, the nation's first Black president, bestows the Presidential Medal of Freedom on the late Georgia Congressman John Lewis in 2011, Lewis also a Civil Rights icon who marched with the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. A Georgia Democrat and senior member of Congress, Lewis died July 17, 2020 after a battle with pancreatic cancer The late Georgia congressman John Lewis |
SELMA, Alabama –Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com remember the late Georgia Congressman John Lewis, as today, March 7, marks the anniversary of "Bloody Sunday, " the now infamous day of March 7, 1965 where Civil Rights icon Martin Luther King Jr led the then 23-year-old Lewis and other Civil Rights protesters across the Edmund Pettus Bridge to fight for voting rights.
The Edmund Pettus Bridge was the site of the conflict of Bloody Sunday when police attacked Civil Rights Movement demonstrators with horses, billy clubs, and tear gas as they were attempting to march across the bridge from Selma, Alabama to the state capital in Montgomery
This 56th-year anniversary commemorating the historic event that prompted Congress to pass the Civil Rights Act of 1965 comes as President Joe Biden on Sunday signed a new executive order that directs federal agencies to follow specific steps to promote voting access.
Congressional Democrats remain concerned about voting access to Blacks and other vulnerable groups as they continue to demand sweeping voter rights changes through federal legislation that they have control over, and state legislation crafted by Republican-dominated state legislatures across the country.
The son of sharecroppers who was beaten and brutalized as a young Black community activist during historic voting rights protests in Selma, Lewis was one of the most respected and distinguished members of Congress.
He died on July 17, 2020 at 80-years-old following a battle with pancreatic cancer, a celebrated death that his colleagues in Congress, Civil Rights leaders and mourners nationwide called a a tremendous loss to the Black community and the fight for democracy and equal opportunity.
As part of a procession held nine days after his death, a carriage carried Lewis' body across the Edmund Pettus Bridge, a symbolic measure that was a part of the week-long funeral activities for the congressman, the first Black federal lawmaker to lie in state at the U.S. Capitol.
"It is with inconsolable grief and enduring sadness that we announce the passing of U.S. Rep. John Lewis," the Lewis family said in a statement after his death. "He was honored and respected as the conscience of the U.S. Congress and an icon of American history, but we knew him as a loving father and brother."
Former Atlanta mayor Andrew Young, also a former ambassador to the United Nations, described his friend and political colleague as fearless and "always available until his death."
Ohio 11th Congressional District Congresswoman Marcia L. Fudge, a Warrensville Heights democrat whose district includes parts of Cleveland and Biden's cabinet nominee for U.S. secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), commented Sunday on Lewis, whom she served with in Congress, and the anniversary of Bloody Sunday.
"Today we honor John and the Americans who made the dangerous march across the bridge in Selma, facing tear gas and billy clubs for the right to vote, a struggle that continues to this day," said Fudge. a former chairwoman of the Congressional Black Caucus.
A former Georgia state legislator out of Atlanta and 17-term Democratic Congressman who represented Georgia's 5th congressional district, Lewis was a native of Troy Alabama.
His great grandfather was born into slavery.
He lost his first bid for Congress and later won the seat in 1986 against his Republican challenger, and following a contentious and now infamous fight against Julian Bond during the Democratic primary he later won, Bond a prominent Black Georgia state senator at the time.
During that primary campaign contest against Bond Lewis said then that "if you know anything about be my vote is not up for sale and my vote cannot be bought," a reference against Bond, whose campaign was dogged with accusations of drug use, accusations Lewis highlighted during the campaign.
Lewis said later that if given the choice again he would have approached the campaign differently, he and Bond, who died in 2015, later reconciling.
One of 10 siblings, he was 16-years-old when he fought to desegregate public libraries in Troy and against Jim Crow Laws.
While in college in Nashville studying theology on a scholarship he was a member of the activist student group the Freedom Riders that fought against racial segregation and to desegregate lunch counters in the city and became a symbol of the student movement for racial equality.
He said that that his true activism was inspired by the Montgomery Bus Boycotts that took place when he was 18-years-old, and the sermons of Dr King on the radio.
He fought with King and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference that King led during the height of the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s and spoke at the March on Washington in 1963 in spite of fears by then president John F. Kennedy that his speech might be too radical.
At 23-years-old he was the youngest speaker at the event in Washington, and gave a dynamic speech, pundits said, a speech overshadowed by Dr. King's historic "I Have a A Dream Speech."
He was arrested for civil disobedience more that 44 times, 40 of those arrests occurring before he was elected to Congress.
He returned to Selma each year for anniversary festivities and to remember "Bloody Sunday."
A recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2011 from former president Barack Obama, the nation's first Black president, and a minster of the gospel whose legacy will remain of an unmatched stature, Lewis never stopped fighting for justice for the underprivileged and the disenfranchised.
He endorsed Obama fro president in 2008 and for reelection, and he boycotted the inauguration of former president Donald Trump in 2016, whom Biden defeated last November in a contentious election, Lewis also a supporter of the Biden campaign, Biden a former U.S. senator he served with in Congress.
One of his last public appearances was a town hall with Obama.
A husband and father, Lewis loved Black people, unequivocally.
He was married to his wife Lillian for nearly 50 years, and until her death in 2012.
Whether fighting for public policy changes for his constituents in particular, or for the country as a whole, overtime he drew the love and respect of his fellow lawmakers.
He was a biblical figure on a mission, and in spite of his stubbornness at times he had friends and enemies across partisan lines.
Considered a hard- core liberal in Congress by some accounts, Lewis opposed the U.S waging of the 1991 Gulf War, and the Clinton Administration on NAFTA and welfare reform.
As a federal lawmaker he fought against the reversal of decades of Civil Rights gains and spoke out against the U.S. Supreme Court's 2013 decision in Shelby County vs Holder, a decision in which the high court invalidated key provision of the Voting Rights Act, thereby lessening government over watch of state voting rules and making it easier for state officials to make it harder for Black and other racio- ethic minority voters to vote.
During his 30-plus years in Congress representing a district in the seep South Lewis opposed the Iraq War and also fought in Congress for public policies in support of voting rights, reproductive rights for women, affirmative action, gun control, human and Civil Rights, universal healthcare and the gamete of issues embraced by the liberal wing of the Democratic Party.
He backed same sex marriage which became legal across all 50 states and the District of Columbia in 2015.
His legacy, however, transcends the Democratic Party that he had no problem challenging on matters he deemed necessary to address.
The National Museum of African American History opened on the National Mall in Washington D.C. in 2016 during Obama's tenure, Lewis the impetus for the congressional bill that led to funding for the historical monument.
Lewis ultimately supported Obama for the Democratic primary in 2008 that Obama won over Hillary Clinton, and he backed him again in 2012 for his successful reelection campaign for president.
Obama praised the congressman when he was on his deathbed.
If there’s one thing I love about @RepJohnLewis, it’s his incomparable will to fight," Obama tweeted after learning that Lewis had terminal cancer. "I know he’s got a lot more of that left in him. Praying for you, my friend."
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