[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 129 (Wednesday, July 22, 2020)]
[House]
[Pages H3671-H3675]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
{time} 1830
HONORING CONGRESSMAN JOHN LEWIS
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of
January 3, 2019, the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Bass) is
recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the majority leader.
Ms. BASS. Mr. Speaker, it is with great honor that I rise today to
coanchor the Congressional Black Caucus Special Order hour. For the
next 60 minutes, we have a chance to communicate to the American people
our great love for an American hero, Representative John Lewis.
Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from the great State of
California (Ms. Pelosi), my colleague and the honorable Speaker from
the city of San Francisco.
Ms. PELOSI. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for yielding and
appreciate her calling us together for this Special Order for a very
special person.
This big picture of John Lewis was just put up here. ``Rest in
Power,'' it says. You can't see from the TV, but over here in the front
row is a big bouquet of white flowers. It is in a place where John
usually sat in the front row of a section that many of the Members of
the Congressional Black Caucus held fort, conspired sometimes, plotted,
and made progress for the American people. It is appropriate that we
have those flowers there where John sat for so many years.
Jon Meacham, who is writing a book on John Lewis, told us yesterday
on a Caucus call that when John was born, he was born into a garden. He
loved to be in the garden. He loved to be with the chicks, as we know,
the little chickens, and he loved to see things grow. He loved to see
things grow.
He lived his life in that way. He loved to see progress grow. He
loved to see love and peace grow. He loved to see ideas grow, and he
loved to see a more perfect Union grow.
Many of our colleagues will have many things to say this evening, and
because it is a Special Order, I don't have my usual 1 minute, which is
endless, so I will be briefer and save some remarks for another time.
But here is what I will say.
John has always been about nonviolence. That was his spirit in
everything that he did. He was respectful of other views and respectful
of other people. In the spirit of nonviolence, Reverend Lawson taught
that to him, to Dr. King, and the rest, and much of it was in the
spirit of Mahatma Gandhi and much of the nonviolence that he put forth.
In Sanskrit, Mahatma Gandhi's language, the word for nonviolence is
``satyagraha.'' That word means two things: Nonviolence, and insistence
on the truth.
And John Lewis, nonviolently, always insisted on the truth. Whether
it was a lunch counter, the truth of equality, whether it was upholding
the Constitution, the truth of our Founders, in everything that he did,
it was about truth and peace and love.
Mr. Speaker, I include in the Record my statement, because, again, I
am not used to not having endless time as the Speaker of the House, and
I do know that our colleagues have a great deal to say.
I will say one more thing: At the end of his life, end of his time in
Washington, D.C., right before he was preparing to go back to Atlanta,
just a couple of weeks ago, in the middle of the night, he decided--
early in the morning, 4 a.m.--that he was going to go, in the morning,
to Black Lives Matter on the street.
So one of the last official or public photos that we have of John
Lewis is with the Mayor of Washington, D.C., and then alone, standing
on that beautiful tapestry, ``Black Lives Matter,'' the connection from
John, the boy from Troy, to Black Lives Matter, the future of a
movement of which he was so much a part.
May he rest in power. May he rest in peace.
Ms. BASS. Mr. Speaker, the Nation lost an icon; the House lost its
most respected Member; and the Congressional Black Caucus lost the most
senior member of our family.
The Congressional Black Caucus is known as the conscience of the
Congress, but John Lewis was known as the conscience of our Congress.
One of the greatest honors of serving in Congress was that I had the
possibility of serving with him.
Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from the State of South
Carolina (Mr. Clyburn), the majority whip.
Mr. CLYBURN. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for yielding me the
time.
Mr. Speaker, I cringe often when I hear people talk about the 1960s
as the civil rights movement. I always put an ``S'' on that.
The Stono Rebellion was in 1739. It was a civil rights movement.
Denmark Vesey's insurrection was in 1822. It was a civil rights
movement.
The Niagara Movement that led to the creation of the NAACP more than
100 years ago was a civil rights movement.
John Lewis and I met in October 1960 at a civil rights movement. For
as long as there are people held in suppression, there will always be a
movement for civil rights. However, in any movement there will be a
few--sometimes only one--that rise head and shoulders above all others,
and so it was with my good friend, John Robert Lewis.
When we met the weekend of October 13, 14, 15, 1960, on the campus of
Morehouse College, there was a little bit of an insurrection taking
place. We, who were college students, felt that we knew how best to do
things. We were not listening to Martin Luther King, Jr., and a few
others, and so we asked King to meet with us. And he did.
We went into the meeting around 10 o'clock in the evening. We did not
walk out of that room until 4 o'clock the next morning. I came out of
that room having had a Saul-to-Paul transformation. I have never been
the same since.
But listening to King's plea for nonviolence, I decided, along with
most others, to accept nonviolence as a tactic. But not John Lewis. He
internalized. It became his way of life.
After going through a few issues of the 1960s, John got elected
president of SNCC in 1963 and was summarily dethroned in 1966. But John
then joined the effort, the Voter Education Project, where he directed.
That was sponsored by the Southern Regional Council. And as he served
as the director of the Voter Education Project in Atlanta, I became the
chair of the Voter Education Project in Charleston, South Carolina, and
we continued that relationship.
He got married to a librarian, I got married to a librarian--though I
did so before he did--and they became fast friends. Lillian and Emily
became fast friends.
I will never, ever get John Robert Lewis out of my system, because he
[[Page H3672]]
succeeded where I failed. It was a tactic for me. It was a way of life
for John Lewis.
General Leave
Ms. BASS. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may
have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and
include extraneous material on the subject of this Special Order.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentlewoman from California?
There was no objection.
Ms. BASS. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from the District
of Columbia (Ms. Norton), the state of the District of Columbia.
Ms. NORTON. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from California,
Karen Bass, for leading this Special Order to our good colleague and
friend, John Lewis.
John and I were elected to the House of Representatives about the
same time. Actually, he was elected a couple years before I was. But we
were colleagues before either of us could have hoped to become Members
of Congress. We were kids together in the Student Nonviolent
Coordinating Committee, the youth arm of the Southern Civil Rights
Movement.
The difference between John and me is I was in law school so I went
in the summer, and John was a full-time member, who left school in
order to join SNCC. SNCC came out of lunch counter sit-ins. Ella Baker
called us all together because it was clear that the Civil Rights
Movement was developing a youth arm. And Ella Baker, the great elder of
the Civil Rights Movement, decided all of us really should become an
organization.
John was not the first head of SNCC. Marion Barry was, because he was
a lot more political than John, and he is remembered more today for his
politics than for his civil rights acumen. When John was elected chair
of SNCC, there was nothing political about it. His qualification was
not that he was the strongest. His qualification was that he was the
bravest.
It is almost impossible to describe the risks John took in the more
than 40 times he was arrested, because today, we are so used to civil
disobedience. People right now are lying down on Pennsylvania Avenue
after the George Floyd killing. I really want to call to your attention
what it meant when John led young people to be arrested.
Everybody has seen the film of his being knocked down as he marched
in the front of the line; he had a concussion as a result of that. He
never knew, as he led these marches, whether he would come out alive.
Let me tell you about these marches when SNCC would kneel down and
assume other nonviolent postures. On the other side, were not counter-
demonstrators. On the other side were not other people who were
confronting us nonviolently. On the other side were the police leading
white mobs. They were befuddled by the tactics of SNCC and the Civil
Rights Movement. Because when you kneel down and are nonviolent, they
didn't quite know what to do with you or about you.
John, of course, will always be remembered as a Member of the House
of Representatives, but as I close, I must say, it will be difficult,
even for John to have done more in the House than he did in the Civil
Rights Movement, to do more in Congress than he did for his country.
Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for yielding.
Ms. BASS. Mr. Speaker, his legacy to our country is that he devoted
his life to fighting for justice and being a moral compass to our
Nation.
Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from the great State of
Virginia (Mr. Scott).
Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for
yielding.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today for a solemn occasion. Tonight we honor our
friend, brother, colleague, the conscience of the Congress, a true
American icon: Congressman John Lewis.
Words cannot convey the loss to this body as well as to the Nation,
but very few can claim to have altered the course of American history
the way that John did. He was a guiding light to all of us and was a
leader trying to make America a more perfect Union. His steadfast moral
leadership will be deeply missed, particularly at this complex time in
our history.
Those of us here today are standing on his shoulders. His historic
life and legacy will undoubtedly live on, but we must be sure to
continue his life's work, particularly when it comes to voting rights
and restoring the Voting Rights Act. We must make some ``good trouble''
to honor his enormous legacy.
Ms. BASS. Mr. Speaker, Congressman John Lewis spent his life fighting
racism and injustice wherever he confronted it, from Boy Scout sit-ins
and other protests in the streets to championing bold, progressive
policies in Congress, including the Voting Rights Act.
{time} 1845
Ms. BASS. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Illinois (Mr.
Danny K. Davis).
Mr. DANNY K. DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Speaker,
To every man there is a way, a ways, and a way,
And the high souls take the high way,
And the low souls take the low.
While all the rest on the misty flats drift to and fro.
But to every man there is a way, a ways, and a way,
And each man decideth which way his soul shall go.
John Lewis always took the high road, always giving of himself in
such a way that you knew that he was gracious and kind.
John had faith.
Like John, I grew up in rural America, went to a one-room school,
never had a new schoolbook. But John had the faith of a mustard seed
and said: If you want to move a mountain, just say to the mountain be
moved. And if it wouldn't, then you get you some dynamite,
nitroglycerin, TNT, and blow that sucker down.
That was John Lewis. May he rest in peace.
Ms. BASS. Now that he is no longer with us, we have to live up to his
legacy and protect the right to vote for all Americans. As we continue
to face challenges due to the coronavirus and issues of systemic
racism, we must protect our democracy and elections, even in the midst
of adversity.
Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Jackson Lee).
Ms. JACKSON LEE. Mr. Speaker, we are all heartbroken. We all are
speechless. We all are committed to John Robert Lewis' beloved
community.
Each of us have been touched without ceasing for the spirit he led us
in acknowledging, even in anger, that there was the beloved community.
He loved his wife and his family and his extended brothers and
sisters, all the way from Alabama to Georgia. I am reminded of his
ability to love Dr. Martin Luther King. It is a testament of a man that
is able to extend love and not to show envy but to learn and to seek
knowledge. John did that, which allowed him to carry that all the way
to the fights of today.
Dr. King said: ``John Robert Lewis, are you the boy from Troy?'' He
loved to tell that story. He loved to tell that he preached to the
chickens, but his voices were heard by kings and queens.
John Robert Lewis, a saint walking on Earth.
I am reminded of our days in front of the South African Embassy,
arrested, against genocide, or fighting against the children in cages.
John never stopped his fight.
And so I come today to honor him in this brief moment that we have,
to be able to say, Isn't it good that a saintly man walked on this
Earth and reminded us of the beloved community?
I am very glad to say that I knew, and the world knows John Robert
Lewis, ``the boy from Troy.''
Mr. Speaker, as a senior member of this body and the Committee on the
Judiciary, as a colleague of a great and beloved man, and as a member
of a generation that directly benefited from and was inspired by his
work in the Civil Rights Movement, I am proud but heart-broken to
participate in this tribute to an American original, our friend and
colleague, the late John Robert Lewis who died last Friday, July 17,
2020, in Atlanta, Georgia at the age of 80 years old.
But what amazing things my friend John bore witness to in those eight
decades.
John Robert Lewis was a lifelong warrior for a more just, equitable,
fairer, and better America, one of the Original Big Six, and a giant of
the Civil Rights Movement.
John Lewis was one of the original Freedom Riders who challenged
segregated interstate travel in the South in 1961.
He was a founder and early leader of the Student Nonviolent
Coordinating Committee, which coordinated lunch-counter sit-ins.
[[Page H3673]]
He helped organize and was the last surviving person who addressed
the multitude at the March on Washington, where Dr. King delivered his
immortal ``I Have A Dream'' speech on the steps of the Lincoln
Memorial.
John Robert Lewis was born on February 21, 1940, the third of 10
children, to Eddie and Willie Mae (Carter) Lewis near the town of Troy
on a sharecropping farm owned by a white man.
After his parents bought their own farm--110 acres for $300--John
shared in the farm work, leaving school at harvest time to pick cotton,
peanuts and corn.
Their house had no plumbing or electricity. In the outhouse, they
used the pages of an old Sears catalog as toilet paper, that seems too
much to bear but John was empowered by his history.
His family called him ``Preacher,'' and becoming one seemed to be his
destiny.
John often said he drew inspiration by listening to a young minister
named Martin Luther King on the radio and reading about the 1955
through 56 Montgomery bus boycott.
John Lewis met Dr. King in Montgomery, Alabama in 1958, who was
touched by a letter John had written him and sent him a round-trip bus
ticket to visit.
When John arrived at the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church for his
appointment, Dr. King greeted him thusly: ``Are you the boy from Troy?
Are you John Lewis?''
John said, ``I am John Robert Lewis, giving his whole name.
But Dr. King henceforth would affectionately call our beloved John,
``the boy from Troy''.
But in 2011, at a White House ceremony, President Barack Obama
awarded John Lewis the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's
highest civilian honor, and said this about the boy from Troy:
``Generations from now, when parents teach their children what is meant
by courage, the story of John Lewis will come to mind; an American who
knew that change could not wait for some other person or some other
time; whose life is a lesson in the fierce urgency of now.''
The first time John Lewis was arrested was in February 1960, when he
and other students demanded service at whites-only lunch counters in
Nashville, the first prolonged battle of the movement that evolved into
the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee.
John's advocacy was fierce and joyful, as embodied in his common
refrain to involve oneself in the actions and passions of one's time
``to get in the way, make necessary trouble.''
Less than two years after that August 1963 day, in the shadow of the
Lincoln Memorial, in March 1965, John led over 600 foot soldiers across
the Edmund Pettus Bridge, in Selma, Alabama, in a march demanding the
right to vote. John's protest against injustice was met with violence
by Alabama State Troopers.
He was beaten and his skull left bloodied, the horror left bare for a
nation to see on television.
That incident, immediately known and forever remembered as Bloody
Sunday, led to the passage and enactment of the Voting Rights Act of
1965.
It was my personal honor to accompany John on countless pilgrimages
to the Edmund Pettus Bridge to remember and acknowledge those common
persons with common dreams and uncommon courage and love for the
promise of the country.
In 1986, John Lewis was elected to the United States House of
Representatives from Georgia's 5th District and served in that role
until earlier the evening when the sun set on his heroic and
extraordinary life.
John was the conscience of the Congress, widely beloved and revered
on both sides of the aisle and the Capitol.
His moral authority was colossal because he had seen the worst of us
but he always appealed to the best of us and never ceased to inspire us
to strive to create the beloved community.
It is no exaggeration to say he was a man, the likes of which we
shall not see again.
As news of John's passing reverberates across the United States and
around the world, John would want us to reflect not on his death, but
his life and the unfinished necessary work ahead of us.
John never took his eyes off the prize and to his last days,
continued to march and stand in solidarity with those protesting
injustice and inequality.
I remember getting arrested with John, Congressman McGovern, former
colleagues Jim Moran of Virginia and John Olver of Massachusetts, and
our late colleague Tom Lantos, for protesting the genocide in Darfur at
the Embassy of Sudan on April 28, 2006.
John Lewis led us in the sit-down demonstration on the House floor to
protest the Republican Congress' refusal to take up gun violence
prevention legislation in the face of the tragic mass shootings that
plague our country.
And in his final act of civic engagement and civil disobedience, John
Lewis stood in the middle of Black Lives Matter Plaza showing
solidarity and the continuity with the now global movement fighting
galvanized by the horrific murder of George Floyd to peacefully protest
for justice and equal treatment in the criminal justice system.
Mr. Speaker, John Lewis was among the finest Americans this country
ever produced.
He lived a consequential life and his legacy is all around us, in the
realization of talent and opportunity of millions of persons who walked
through the doors of progress that John Lewis helped open.
I hope it is comfort to John's family and loved ones, that people the
world over are mourning his death but celebrating his life.
A fitting and proper means of paying tribute to John Lewis's
extraordinary life is for the Senate to immediately take up and pass
the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, landmark legislation to
protect the precious right to vote for all persons and to ensure that
our democracy has the tools needed to remain strong.
I ask the House to observe a moment of silence in memory and thanks
of John Robert Lewis, the boy from Troy, who became a leader who helped
change the world.
Ms. BASS. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from New
York (Mr. Meeks).
Mr. MEEKS. Mr. Speaker, John Robert Lewis was short in height, yet he
was a giant. John Robert Lewis was a humble man but fierce for justice.
John Robert Lewis talked softly, but roared like a lion when it was
time to fight for freedom, justice, and equality for all humankind. He
said there was one race--the human race.
He is an individual that compelled a Nation to change, to make it
better. His voice will echo in this Chamber forever.
It was my honor and pleasure for 22 years to serve with the Honorable
John Robert Lewis.
May he rest in peace and rise in power.
Ms. BASS. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Georgia (Mr.
David Scott).
Mr. DAVID SCOTT of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, John Lewis' mother and his
grandmother named him John after John the Apostle, the disciple, the
Scripture says, whom Jesus loved, John the Beloved.
And John Lewis dedicated his life to building the beloved community.
And one more thing. John Lewis, being named after John, Jesus'
Apostle, it must be noted that the Apostle John was the youngest of the
disciples. John Lewis was the youngest of our civil rights leaders who
spoke at the momentous March on Washington.
God bless John Lewis, and we thank God for sending him our way.
Ms. BASS. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Texas (Mr.
Green).
Mr. GREEN of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I rise to say thank you to a friend
and a great warrior.
I thank you, dear brother, for being the sermon you preached. You
walked your talk. 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.
He was an occasion-maker, and he rose to the occasion on the Edmond
Pettus Bridge. And for this, many of us who are here tonight are here
because he marched into brutality.
So tonight, I thank you, dear brother, for being able to withstand
what many of us could not and would not. I rise to just say thank you
and to let you know that we will never forget you, and we will always
make it perspicuously clear that we are here because you were there.
Ms. BASS. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from New York (Ms.
Clarke).
Ms. CLARKE of New York. Mr. Speaker, today I rise to honor a great
man, Representative John Lewis.
This past Friday, July 17, our country lost one of its greatest
heroes, a true patriot, who literally put his life on the line in the
pursuit of justice and fairness in our society.
The Honorable John Lewis was a penultimate hero who embodied the
struggle for human rights and dignity. He was a fierce civil rights
warrior, who refused to abide by the Jim Crow laws of the South. He
embodied what it means to be a public servant, putting his life on the
line and the people above his own self-interests.
I am so honored and privileged to have served with John Robert
Lewis--John Robert Lewis, who was a dancer, a man who loved to have fun
but was convicted for the right to vote, convicted as an activist for
civil rights and civil liberties.
[[Page H3674]]
And I will forever hold dear the moment that we landed in Ghana
together, invited by the President of Ghana for the Year of Return, and
to see the wonderment in his eyes of visiting a space where it all
began for all of us 401 years ago.
May he rest in peace and rise in power. The Honorable John Lewis will
never be forgotten. We all hold onto his legacy.
Ms. BASS. To honor Mr. Lewis, the first thing we need to do is to
pass legislation restoring the Voting Rights Act and get it signed. We
know the credibility of our elections has already shown early signs of
concern during several State primaries and voter suppression cases,
coupled with the fact that people are going to have to vote in
dangerous conditions, cannot be ignored. I know that if Mr. Lewis was
still with us, he would be leading that fight.
Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Johnson).
Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, much has been said about my
friend, teacher, and mentor, John Lewis.
He was a family man, married to Lillian for 44 years, and to that
union bore a son, John-Miles, who is with us today.
Along with John Lewis' brothers and sisters, he was number three of
ten. He has a large extended family. And that family entrusted John to
the world. And for 33 years, he was our colleague. For 14 years, he was
mine.
I just want to say to the family that we here in Congress feel your
pain. We appreciate your sacrifice in allowing John to do what he did
for the world and for Congress. I want you to know that we stand with
you, we feel your pain, and we will never forget your dear brother,
uncle, cousin, whoever he was to you. We will never forget him. We know
that he loved you.
He would depart this place to go to the family reunion during the
summer down in Alabama where the family still owned hundreds of acres
of land that they farmed even when his two sharecropping parents gave
birth to John. And so he was a family man. Thank you, family, for
entrusting him to us.
Ms. BASS. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. LARSON of Connecticut. Mr. Speaker, there are no words to
describe the pain that many Americans are feeling right now as we
grapple with the loss of our conscience, our friend, our inspirational
leader, John Lewis.
I am heartbroken. I am honored and humbled to have served alongside
him, to have had him take my children, as he has done for so many
Americans in the Faith and Politics movement through a historic march
in Selma, across the Edmund Pettus Bridge.
During one of those trips I was lucky enough to have my daughter
Laura and son Ray join me. Because of school obligations, they had to
leave early and were going to miss the march across the Edmund Pettus
Bridge. John wasn't about to let that happen.
He took the three of us in his car with him and we drove through
Selma, as he told them what it was like and what he went through. They
were both entranced by him and the story he was telling that was filled
with graphic violence of what they endured as they fought for equal
rights.
At the end of it, my daughter Laura, who was about 14 years old at
the time, struck by what he had just told her, rather innocently asked
him, ``Mr. Lewis, did you ever have fun?''
There was a pregnant pause and then John got the biggest smile on his
face. He told us that yes, they did. ``And in fact, at night, we'd
pitch our tents and sit around campfires and we'd sing and dance,'' he
said. His smile then got broader as he remembered. ``I can still see
Andy Young doing the jitterbug in his coveralls. And he could dance . .
. he could dance.''
Despite everything John endured, they were still young and full of
life.
One of the most inspiring memories I have of John Lewis is from 2009,
when we were fighting to pass the Affordable Care Act. The day before
we passed the bill, hateful protestors spewed racial slurs and spit on
John Lewis, Andre Carson, and Emmanuel Cleaver. Tensions were high
after that. The next day at Caucus, I asked John to speak. He brought
the Caucus to its feet, evoking the Civil Rights movement.
He said: ``Pay no attention to what went on yesterday. We have to
learn, as we did in the Civil Rights Movement, to look past this and
keep our eyes on the prize. So, I ask you to stay calm and stay
together.'' As he was walking away from the mic, he paused, and then he
stepped back up and said, ``Forty-five years ago, I walked across the
Edmund Pettus bridge arm in arm with fellow citizens who believed
strongly in Civil Rights. We faced far more difficult crowds than we
are facing out here today. Let's lock arms and go across the street and
pass this bill.'' And we did. We marched across the street, through the
protesters and passed the bill.
In 2016, I worked with John to take another stand. This time, we were
calling for a vote on the House floor on a bill to address the epidemic
of gun violence in America. After the 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook
Elementary, the House didn't take a single vote to address gun
violence, until Democrats took the majority in 2019. In 2016, after the
shooting at Pulse Nightclub in Orlando, John and the rest of the
Democratic Caucus had had enough. He called on the Caucus to join him
in causing some 'good trouble'. With that, we held a sit-in on the
House floor demanding justice.
Most recently, we worked together to strengthen Social Security.
Social Security is our nation's number one anti-poverty program and is
a lifeline for millions. It needs to be strengthened so it's there for
future generations too. Last summer we stood together outside the
Capitol highlighting how important these benefits are for seniors,
especially for Black seniors. He said:
`I grew up in rural Alabama, 50 miles from Montgomery, outside a
little town called Troy, and I remember how seniors lived before they
had Social Security. Most of the seniors in my district in Georgia
depend on Social Security for the majority of their income. Without it
almost half of Black and Latino seniors in this country would be living
in poverty. That's not right, that's not fair, and it's not just.
Social Security is more than a right, it is a promise. A promise people
paid into to secure their future. We can do better, we can do much
better.'
This year, even when battling cancer, he continued this fight.
I've been proud to call John Lewis a friend over my time in Congress.
In 2016, I was honored to work with the Bipartisan Policy Center and
Representative Tom Cole to establish the Congressional Patriot Award.
John Lewis and Sam Johnson, who passed away earlier this year, were the
first recipients. They were both authentic heroes. One held in
captivity by the VietCong and tortured and nearly beaten to death; the
other held captive by the Alabama Police, clubbed and beaten. They both
had a genuine focus on doing for others, not themselves. They were
humble, gracious, and kind, yet warriors for their cause.
John Lewis has forever changed our country. His legacy will live on
in the policies and lives he changed. We must continue to follow his
lead and cause good trouble.
Mr. HILL of Arkansas. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the heroic
life of Congressman John Robert Lewis and his historic contribution to
the nation we know and love today.
In September 1957, the Little Rock Nine walked into history as they
walked up the front steps of Central High School. It was a pivotal
moment in history.
John said this moment inspired him in his own leadership as an active
member of the Civil Rights Movement.
I had the pleasure of calling John a friend, as did many of my
colleagues, and will cherish the time we had together in the people's
House.
John joining me as legislative cosponsors to expand the Little Rock
Central High National Park boundary is a highlight of my congressional
service.
John will truly be missed, but long remembered. As the USNS John
Lewis sets sail as a new class of naval vessel, we are reminded to
carry on his legacy of dignified leadership.
I join all Americans in honoring the remarkable life of John Lewis.
Martha and I offer prayers for his family and for all those he inspired
and who thus grieve over his loss.
Mr. WILSON of South Carolina. Mr. Speaker, on Friday, our country
lost Congressman John Lewis, an inspiring individual who stirred so
much important change.
I would like to extend my deepest sympathies to Congressman John
Lewis' family, friends, and staff. Congressman Lewis will always be an
icon of courage to promote equality and freedom. I will always cherish
his thoughtful and cheerful encouragement during our time serving in
Congress together.
Congressman Lewis was especially appreciated by his neighbors--the
people of South Carolina.
We will always remember Congressman Lewis for his many significant
accomplishments. And although he is no longer with us, his legacy will
always live on. My prayers are with the Lewis family during this
incredibly painful time.
Ms. JOHNSON of Texas. Mr. Speaker, in the passing of Congressman John
Lewis, I have lost a dear friend, Georgia has lost a true leader, and
our nation has lost a civil rights icon.
John Lewis and I first met upon my arrival to Congress nearly three
decades ago. Yet, by
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the time of that meeting, he had already made a profound impact on my
life. It was because of his early work on the advancement of the Civil
and Voting Rights Acts that I can stand here and address you today.
His grasp of the nuances and complexities of public policy, paired
with his genuine personality, made him a dynamic presence in this
Chamber. When he spoke, everyone--regardless of party or politics--
listened. When he sang--like he did when we were jailed together
following a nonviolent protest at the Embassy of Sudan--peace ensued.
His stories captivated, his advice educated, his sermons inspired, and
his speeches motivated. He brought the same passion he had as an
activist to the halls of Congress, where he spent his career
representing Georgia's 5th district.
It is impossible to properly eulogize John Lewis with only words--for
he was a man of action. We would therefore all do well to reaffirm our
commitment to the preservation of equality and justice in his honor,
which is necessary now more than ever before.
Mr. Speaker, I wish to offer my condolences to John Lewis's family
and to thank the Congressman for a life full of ``good trouble.''
Miss GONZALEZ-COLON of Puerto Rico. Mr. Speaker, for so many of us,
serving in the U.S. Congress is the achievement of a lifetime. But by
the time John Lewis arrived to this chamber, he had already built a
historic legacy, as one of the Greats of the Civil Rights Movement. A
man of inspiration and hope, committed to the struggles of freedom and
justice, John had to put himself on the line and defend social justice
throughout his whole lifetime.
America has lost one of its great leaders. John never relented in
fighting for what he felt was right, yet he always sought the good in
others. Having suffered bigotry and violence, he would not let himself
be dragged down by hate.
It is a privilege to me, to have been able to know and serve in
Congress with such a champion of equality and civil rights. Humble as
the truly great are humble, serene and kind, but John was strong in his
convictions. In his office he displayed mementos of our nation's crude
history of segregation and the events of the struggle that he still
remembered as if it were yesterday. I was privileged to have
conversations with him asking about his experiences, in which he gladly
spent much longer time than the usual congressional meeting. In his
gaze as he spoke you could see an inner peace that filled the room and
seemed magical.
John Lewis always supported the right of Puerto Ricans to choose
their own future and achieve full equality as American citizens, and I
was able to count on him as cosponsor of the Puerto Rico Statehood
Admission Act (H.R. 4901). He also joined in our effort to recognize
the valor and sacrifice in battle of the Puerto Rican soldiers of the
65th Infantry Regiment as cosponsor of the measure to establish the
13th of April as National Borinqueneers Day.
In the same spirit of justice and equality, he asked me to be the
Republican co-lead for the Every Child Deserves a Family Act (H.R.
3114), a piece of legislation that seeks to end discrimination in
adoption and foster care agencies across the nation, forbidding
discrimination against children, youths, families and individuals on
the basis of religion, sex (including sexual orientation and gender
identity) and marital status in the management and delivery of child
welfare services. I did not hesitate to say yes. Discrimination is
discrimination whether you are talking political or social issues.
Representative Lewis' gallant defense of equality and justice
extended to the struggle for the rights of the LGBTQ community. I was
proud to join him in the Equality Act, which would extend by law the
protection against discrimination under the 1964 Civil Rights Act to
LGBTQ individuals. The march towards true justice on which John Lewis
spent his life goes on: it is up to us to continue it. There will be
other bridges to cross, and his courage should inspire us to cross
them, but always with love and care for all people.
May John's loved ones be comforted by the knowledge that his memory
will continue to inspire many generations who are learning from his
words, about inclusion and about fighting hatred with love. I Thank
John (he never wanted me to call him Congressman or Mr. Lewis).
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