VIGIL FOR LEWIS
About 20 people gathered around pictures of U.S. Rep. John Lewis in front of the Arizona Capitol Museum on Sunday evening to pay tribute to the late civil rights icon.
Lewis, who died on Friday from pancreatic cancer, was honored for his life dedicated to civil rights activism.
The son of Alabama sharecroppers, Lewis served in Congress for more than three decades, pushing the causes he championed as an original Freedom Rider challenging segregation, discrimination and injustice in the Deep South – issues reverberating today in the Black Lives Matter movement.
His death was mourned across the country, especially by Black Lives Matter activists such as Gizette Knight, who organized the Phoenix vigil.
The W.E. Rising Project supported the vigil in an Instagram post on Sunday afternoon, asking attendees to bring “candlelight and a loving spirit.”
Kenneth Smith of Unity for Arizona spoke at the vigil.
“I’m so immensely honored to have walked on this earth where John Lewis walked,” Smith said during his address.
The group offered a moment of silence for Lewis after honoring what he had done for the civil rights movement during his life. A few people discussed how they had been touched personally by his fight for civil rights.
“He meant a lot to me,” Knight said. “I felt like I had to do something.”
“He’s more than just about protesting and marching, he’s actually about doing work,” Knight said.
She told attendees that his legislative efforts should inspire people to contribute to similar change through voting, having discussions and educating others.
“Stay in those streets,” Smith said, referring to protests and activism. “Keep working on humanity. His time has passed. Now it’s your time.”