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John Lewis

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  • John Lewis

    John Lewis passed away last night at the age of 80. He had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. He served as a Congressman from Georgia from 1987 until his death.

    Lewis was a Civil Rights icon and genuine hero. He was front and center of virtually every major action ranging from the sit-ins at lunch counters, to being one of the first freedom riders, to suffering a fractured skull after being beaten by police at the Edmund Pettus Bridge during the Selma to Montgomery march in an incident that will forever be known as "Bloody Sunday." He also helped organize the March on Washington where MLK delivered his "I Have a Dream" speech.

    While I rarely agreed with his political views I always respected what he had done. As I said, he was a genuine hero.



    I'm always still in trouble again

    "You're by far the worst poster on TWeb" and "TWeb's biggest liar" --starlight (the guy who says Stalin was a right-winger)
    "Overall I would rate the withdrawal from Afghanistan as by far the best thing Biden's done" --Starlight
    "Of course, human life begins at fertilization that’s not the argument." --Tassman

  • #2
    John Lewis: 1940 - 2020

    One of the truly great civil rights leaders of the 20th and 21st centuries passed away yesterday. One of the original 13 Freedom Riders, Lewis was a lifelong advocate and supporter of peaceful protest and the power of love and forgiveness to bring lasting and real change in the racism and oppression that ruled the country he was born into.

    He was arrested more than 40 times offering peaceful protests against racism and policies that enforced it in our country, he was also beaten many times, almost to death in the "Bloody Sunday" protest on the Edmund Pettis bridge in Alabama:

    https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/17/u...ewis-dead.html

    Source: above

    He died on the same day as did another civil rights stalwart, the Rev. C.T. Vivian, a close associate of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

    Mr. Lewis’s personal history paralleled that of the civil rights movement. He was among the original 13 Freedom Riders, the Black and white activists 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. He helped organize the March on Washington, where Dr. King was the main speaker, on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.

    Mr. Lewis led demonstrations against racially segregated restrooms, hotels, restaurants, public parks and swimming pools, and he rose up against other indignities of second-class citizenship. At nearly every turn he was beaten, spat upon or burned with cigarettes. He was tormented by white mobs and absorbed body blows from law enforcement.

    On March 7, 1965, he led one of the most famous marches in American history. In the vanguard of 600 people demanding the voting rights they had been denied, Mr. Lewis marched partway across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Ala., into a waiting phalanx of state troopers in riot gear.

    Ordered to disperse, the protesters silently stood their ground. The troopers responded with tear gas and bullwhips and rubber tubing wrapped in barbed wire. In the melee, which came to be known as Bloody Sunday, a trooper cracked Mr. Lewis’s skull with a billy club, knocking him to the ground, then hit him again when he tried to get up.

    Televised images of the beatings of Mr. Lewis and scores of others outraged the nation and galvanized support for the Voting Rights Act, which President Lyndon B. Johnson presented to a joint session of Congress eight days later and signed into law on Aug. 6. A milestone in the struggle for civil rights, the law struck down the literacy tests that Black people had been compelled to take before they could register to vote and replaced segregationist voting registrars with federal registrars to ensure that Black people were no longer denied the ballot.

    © Copyright Original Source




    And yet he never shrunk back from that commitment to love and peaceful protest, never harbored hatred or ill will towards those that abused him or hated him, and always taught that ALL people, even those that abuse you, are worthy of the respect due them because of their humanity.

    He went on to serve the United States as a congressman for 30 years from 1988 to 2018. He continued the entire time to work hard for the elimination of barriers to black equality in the US, but never forsook his commitment to peaceful protest and forgiveness. A story is told of a former KKK clansman, one of the men who beat him at the Edmund Pettis Bridge in Alabama, who came to his office to ask forgiveness. Davis did indeed forgive the man and even developed a friendly relationship with him.

    When the SNCC began to embrace the possibility of violence, he parted ways with them. He was always first committed to the idea that love, forgiveness, and peaceful protest against the evils around him was the way to lasting change. This came from his strong Christian faith and upbringing. He encouraged people to 'get in good trouble'. That is to protest against the evils around them, perhaps getting arrested or abused, but do it in such a way that your goodness is not compromised by the protest itself.

    https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/...le/5464148002/

    Here are a few links giving short biographies of his life and work:

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_L...rights_leader)

    https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/17/u...ewis-dead.html

    https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/17/polit...-80/index.html

    https://www.cbsnews.com/news/john-le...l-rights-icon/
    Last edited by oxmixmudd; 07-18-2020, 10:14 AM.
    My brethren, do not hold your faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ with an attitude of personal favoritism. James 2:1

    If anyone thinks himself to be religious, and yet does not  bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this man’s religion is worthless James 1:26

    This you know, my beloved brethren. But everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger; James 1:19

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    • #3
      From a post I started in the Memorial Garden only a few minutes ago:

      Originally posted by rogue06 View Post
      John Lewis passed away last night at the age of 80. He had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. He served as a Congressman from Georgia from 1987 until his death.

      Lewis was a Civil Rights icon and genuine hero. He was front and center of virtually every major action ranging from the sit-ins at lunch counters, to being one of the first freedom riders, to suffering a fractured skull after being beaten by police at the Edmund Pettus Bridge during the Selma to Montgomery march in an incident that will forever be known as "Bloody Sunday." He also helped organize the March on Washington where MLK delivered his "I Have a Dream" speech.

      While I rarely agreed with his political views I always respected what he had done. As I said, he was a genuine hero.



      I'm always still in trouble again

      "You're by far the worst poster on TWeb" and "TWeb's biggest liar" --starlight (the guy who says Stalin was a right-winger)
      "Overall I would rate the withdrawal from Afghanistan as by far the best thing Biden's done" --Starlight
      "Of course, human life begins at fertilization that’s not the argument." --Tassman

      Comment


      • #4
        Originally posted by rogue06 View Post
        From a post I started in the Memorial Garden only a few minutes ago:
        I think it would be best to merge this thread with the one in Memorial Gardens, so there can be no room for debate. This is not an issue that should be argued, but observed.
        The first to state his case seems right until another comes and cross-examines him.

        Comment

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