Ex-presidents eulogize John Lewis
after he was honored with a ceremony in his hometown of Troy, Ala., Lewis made a final trip via a horse-drawn carriage over the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Ala. That’s where he suffered a fractured skull when he was beaten by state troopers while leading a voting rights march in 1965 on a day that has come to be remembered as “Bloody Sunday.”
He returned to the bridge many times over the years to commemorate that day, telling the political leaders who accompanied him on those trips that he fully expected to die at the head of that march.
“It’s important to remember that,” former President Bill Clinton said in eulogizing Lewis Thursday, July 30. “He was there on a mission that was bigger than personal ambition.”
On his way to become the first Black American to lie in state in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda earlier this week, Lewis’ procession swung by the Lincoln Memorial, where he was the youngest speaker at the March on Washington in 1963, where King delivered his famous “I Have a Dream” speech.
Finally, Lewis’ casket lay in state at the Georgia Capitol, where he was honored by Gov. Brian Kemp and Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms on Wednesday, July 29.
At Thursday’s funeral service, Republican former President George W. Bush said while he and Democrat Lewis had many political disagreements over the years, they were without animosity. The two worked together in planning the National Museum of African American History and Culture, which opened on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., in 2016.
“In the America John Lewis fought for and the America I live in, differences of opinion are evidence of democracy in action,” Bush said. “We live in a better and nobler country today because of John Lewis.”
Former President and Georgia native Jimmy Carter and current President Donald Trump did not attend Thursday’s funeral.
At age 95, Carter is not traveling. However, he sent written condolences that were read during Thursday’s service by the Rev. Raphael Warnock, Ebenezer Baptist’s current pastor.
Trump and Lewis were not on good terms. After questioning Trump’s legitimacy as president in light of Russian interference in the 2016 election, Lewis did not attend the Trump’s inauguration in 2017.
Gov. Brian Kemp signed bills Tuesday, July 21, aimed at cracking down on human trafficking in Georgia and improving the state’s foster care system.
The governor made both issues top priorities of his agenda for the 2020 General Assembly session that ended late last month.
“Today is an important step forward to ensure a brighter, safer future for Georgia’s children in foster care and bring an end to human trafficking in our state,” Kemp said in a prepared statement.
“As these bills take the force of law, we are fulfilling an ongoing commitment to enhance our foster care system, achieve positive outcomes for our children and hold the perpetrators of human trafficking accountable.”
House Bill 823 and House Bill 911 were part of Georgia First Lady Marty Kemp’s initiative to target human trafficking and better protect foster children.
Under House Bill 823, anyone who knowingly uses a commercial motor vehicle to transport victims of sexual or labor trafficking will lose their commercial drivers license for life.
House Bill 911 prohibits foster parents from engaging in improper sexual behavior with children in their care, closing a loophole in current state law.
“I want to thank the sponsors of [the two bills] for working alongside Governor Kemp and I to put Georgia’s children first, hold bad actors accountable, and ultimately bring an end to the evil of human trafficking in our state,” Marty Kemp said.
Both bills took effect upon the governor’s signature.