[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 127 (Monday, July 20, 2020)]
[House]
[Page H3095]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             PAYING TRIBUTE TO THE HONORABLE JOHN R. LEWIS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Texas (Mr. Green) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. GREEN of Texas. Mr. Speaker, it is my preeminent privilege to 
rise today to pay tribute to a great and noble American, a dear friend, 
a Member of this House until his transition. Mr. Speaker, of course I 
speak of none other than the Honorable   John Lewis.
  I want to recognize and say words about him today, because he took to 
heart the words of Gandhi that we should be the change that we seek. He 
was the sermon that he preached. He did what he said he would do and 
inspired others to do likewise.
  It is said that a great person will always rise to the occasion, but 
it is also said that the greater person makes the occasion.
  Well, when it came to the Edmund Pettus Bridge, not only did he rise 
to the occasion by marching across that bridge, he made the occasion by 
helping to organize the march that left Brown Chapel and went to that 
bridge. Knowing that they were facing the constabulary with clubs, they 
marched on. Knowing that they were marching into brutality, they 
marched on.
  He was a person who understood that the cause of justice will 
sometimes require some harm to be suffered, yet he marched on. And for 
this reason, the world had an opportunity to see the horrors of 
invidious discrimination, and in so seeing, a President, Lyndon 
Johnson, was put in a position such that he could pass the Voting 
Rights Act. And after the passage of that act, many of us who are in 
Congress today are here because he marched across that bridge.
  So I would say to you, Mr. Speaker, because of his courage, because 
he walked the talk, because he was there for us at the Edmund Pettus 
Bridge, and because the Voting Rights Act was passed as a result 
thereof, it seems to me that it would be proper, appropriate, and 
befitting of this body and all of Congress to now pass the reformation 
of the Voting Rights Act so that we can show the world that voting is 
still important to all people in this country.
  The Honorable John Lewis was there on Bloody Sunday. Why not have the 
irony of history allow him to be the spark that will ignite the passage 
of this reformation of the Voting Rights Act in the Congress of the 
United States of America.
  And finally this: I had conversations with him, some of them in jail. 
He got me in good trouble. We went to jail in 2006 protesting at the 
Sudanese Embassy. We went to jail in 2013 protesting out in the streets 
of Washington, D.C., for immigration reform. Yes, it was good trouble, 
and I am proud to say I was there in good trouble.
  But one of the things we discussed was Jimmie Lee Jackson. We ought 
not forget Jimmie Lee Jackson. Jimmie Lee Jackson was the person who 
had just lost his life prior to marching across the Edmund Pettus 
Bridge. In fact, there are many who would contend that he was the spark 
that ignited much of that movement.
  So let us move forward together recognizing the Honorable   John 
Lewis. But let us not forget C.T. Vivian; let us not forget Hosea 
Williams; let us not forget the many nameless, faceless persons who 
were there with him on Bloody Sunday.
  Let us do this: Let us pass the Voting Rights Act, the reformation 
thereof, in his honor.

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