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 ...
Don’t hold your breath.
Soros is pushing 90.
He was a POS, just like Cummings.
Total POS.
No tears from me.
While I don’t wish hell fire and brimstone on anyone, he is probably sitting in a hot place right now. The wages of sin is death.
They are sucking this guy off HARD. Even ‘Republicans’ in Georgia want a statue of the son of a bitch. “Rest is power” was trending on shitter. I don’t even know what that means.
What they need to do is take out the Black bitch that won a suburban seat in 2018 (the one where Pamaja boy had lost the special election the previous year).
I'll probably get flamed for this, but if I was a GOP pol in Georgia I'd likely ALSO sign on to the petition to replace the statue of Alexander H. Stephens with a statue of John Lewis. I really don't see any downside to it... Stephens was a particularly odious unrepentant white southern RAT slave-owner who said flat out said that the "cornerstone" of the Confederacy was on the principle that blacks were inferior and meant to be enslaved (Neo-confederate history revisionists claiming the Confederacy was all about "states rights" ignore that speech, of course). After the war, he continued to publish books glorifying the "lost cause". While John Lewis was an equally vile Georgia RAT in many ways during his tenure in Congress (loved abortion, etc.), at least he did some ballsy stuff as a young man to end segregation.
Replace a statue of a real scumbag Georgia RAT with a slightly less scumbag Georgia RAT, and get brownie points from the media for it, showing what how "pro civil rights" you are. Sounds good to me.
>> “Rest is power” was trending on shitter. I don’t even know what that means. <<
Simple. He's dead but the legacy he fought for will carry on and inspires others to continue his work. Leftist equivalent of the "Breitbart is here" slogan.
And hey, remember when the lefties swore up and down they'd carry on Paul Wellstone's memory? They sure forgot about that one after they lost the election!
Wasn’t Stephens a Southern Whig?
I also read that he and Lincoln were on good terms.
I feel you, but now is not the time to give “them” something they want, I wouldn’t even change the Confederate bases until we have a commission say we should 6 months from now, on OUR timetable not BLM’s. Lewis was a communist who was like one the first ones to want to impeach Trump (justification to come later) so I don’t care what good he did before, assholes like that don’t get a statue, the media can keep it’s brownies and shove them up Anderson Cooper’s love chute.
I’d replace Confed VP with a statue of Mack Mattingly.
Just realized, this is goddamn Mandela all over again.
Hmmm. I googled it and he was originally one of those southern "cotton" Whigs in the 1830s, but left the Whig Party in 1851. Wikipedia says "Despite his late arrival in the Democratic Party, Stephens quickly rose through the ranks. He even served as President James Buchanan's floor manager in the House during the fruitless battle for the slave state Lecompton Constitution for Kansas Territory in 1857. He was instrumental in framing the failed English Bill after it became clear that Lecompton would not pass, in order to negotiate its approval."
He remained a RAT until his dying day in 1883, getting elected to Congress in the 1870s and then as Governor of Georgia in 1882, his post-Vice President of the CSA career.
Oh, and his career prior to entering politics was being a defense lawyer for murderers.
>> I also read that he and Lincoln were on good terms. <<
Eh? I don't think they had much in common aside from both being former Whig Congressmen (and the same was true for tons of politicians in the 1860s). He WAS one three Confederate commissioners sent to meet with Lincoln in attempt to negotiate a ceasefire during the war. Those efforts were as successful as Clinton's 11th hour "peace talks" with Arafat and the wussy Israeli leftist leader in 2000.
Eh, valid point.
I felt that when so many on "our" side were eager to sign on to the effort to replace Andy Jackson on the $20 with a black woman, and trying to spin it as a victory for conservatives.... "southern Democrat President to be replaced with gun-touting Republican on $20".
Sorry, we all know why they wanted to get rid of Old Hickory. (despite the fact that Jackson, unlike Alexander H. Stephens, was adamantly opposed to secession)
But I heard the Trump administration has quietly "indefinitely delayed" redesigning the $20 bill anyway.
Gonna be a lot harder to replace the Alexander H. Stephens statue on "our timetable" though.
Ok then ... thanks for looking it up !
I am sure I have read that the reason he was selected as a “peace commissioner” was because of the Lincoln relationship. Anyway no matter.
None of this is a “defense of Stephens” he was a particularly egregious southerner “fire eater”. Very vociferous in his speeches & writings over the reason for Southern secession being that of slavery.
Too bad he’s not around to argue here with the FReeper’s who insist that slavery little to nothing to do with it.
I’ll echo Hale: It’s another open seat. That’s the best that I can say.
Whatever useful(idiot)ness the guy had, he outlived it by decades. Did he ever author any legislation that passed? Was he literate enough to ever attempt to write a bill?
Let “them” celebrate. Sorry for the folks who’s property will get destroyed; that’s the “diversity tax“ in action. We all pay it in one form or another.
It’s another enemy of our country that’s gone.
He seemed to harbor a lot of hatred for Republicans, just say’n.
“...I’ll echo Hale: ...”
I’m flattered!!!! Or flatulent... whichever is best...
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Lewis and Cummings
Iconic milk duds
I thought Stephens only joined the rats after the war, he was early.
I’m fine with replacing his statue now, for Mattingly or maybe the last Atlanta cop to die in the line of duty.
I guess when it comes to - snort - “civil rights icons”, flatulent wins hands-down every time...
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