Nation mourns death of John Lewis
Civil rights icon recalled as man who changed nation
The tributes to John Lewis poured in Saturday morning, as leaders from across the political spectrum expressed gratitude and reverence for the civil rights icon’s commitment to racial justice, even at great personal cost.
“I first met John when I was in law school, and I told him then that he was one of my heroes. Years later, when I was elected a U.S. Senator, I told him that I stood on his shoulders,” former President Barack Obama wrote in a eulogy on Medium. “When I was elected President of the United States, I hugged him on the inauguration stand before I was sworn in and told him I was only there because of the sacrifices he made.”
The Georgia Democratic congressman, who died Friday at 80, spoke at the 1963 March on Washington. He led the march for voting rights across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Ala., in 1965 with the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. in what became known as “Bloody Sunday.” Lewis suffered a brutal beating by police who violently confronted the demonstrators with bullwhips and nightsticks.
It was appropriate then that his final public act was to visit the newly named Black Lives Matter Plaza on a street leading to the White House — a symbol of the progress the country has made on issues of racial justice and the work that still needed to be done.
Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser, who accompanied Lewis on that visit, described him “as the conscience of Congress … the conscience of our nation.”
“John Lewis had faith in our nation and in the next generation,” she wrote on Twitter. “He warned us not to get lost in despair. So, in this moment of grief, we are hopeful — we are hopeful that, collectively, we can live up to his legacy.”
Former Vice President Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic nominee for president, released a statement on behalf of himself and his wife, Jill.
“We are made in the image of God, and then there is John Lewis,” Biden began. “How could someone in flesh and blood be so courageous, so full of hope and love in the face of so much hate, violence, and vengeance? He was truly a one-of-a-kind, a moral compass who always knew where to point us and which direction to march.”
Former 2016 Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton called Lewis “the truest kind of patriot.”
“He believed America could be better, even live up to its highest founding ideals of equality & liberty for all. He made good trouble to help us get there. Now it’s up to the rest of us to carry on his work,” she tweeted.
For most of the day, President Donald Trump’s voice was missing from the outpouring. After leaving his private suburban golf club around 2 p.m. he tweeted: “Saddened to hear the news of civil rights hero John Lewis passing. Melania and I send our prayers to he and his family.”
Lewis skipped Trump’s inauguration in 2017, saying he didn’t see Trump as a “legitimate president.” Trump lashed out, responding in a tweet that Lewis was: “All talk, talk, talk — no action or results. Sad!”
The White House released a “proclamation” late in the morning, ordering flags at the White House and other public buildings flown at half-staff for one day as “a mark of respect for the memory and longstanding public service” of Lewis.