I feel so inordinately blessed to be the beneficiary of Congressman John Lewis’s 80 years of kindness, integrity and good trouble. What a blessing to have a man of such conviction become an elder before he became our ancestor. To walk the halls of Congress with him, to break bread with him, to stand on that bridge with him.
In the hardest moments, just seeing John Lewis would encourage you. At a time of such unprecedented hurt and such an inflection moment for our nation and moment of racial reckoning it is painful to lose a voice of moral clarity. In the backdrop of our continued fight for civil rights and a moment of national reckoning, the loss is even more profound.
Congressman Lewis did not rest on legacy. Every moment of his life was committed to the struggle, the pursuit of long promised justice and equality, the power of the ballot box. A 23 year old man who spoke at the March on Washington, survived police brutality, spilled his blood on that bridge, sat solemnly at lunch counter after lunch counter. History would have written him a hero for his early contributions alone. But he stayed focused and committed to the fight every single day. He reminds us there is no eligibility age and no expiration date when it comes to the work of justice.
His life has been an example that we will be led by the young and courageous who put their body on the line and strike out against injustice. The Civil Rights movement isn’t over. We are still in it. And the organizers in the streets today pay homage to the path Congressman Lewis walked before them.
The platitudes do not do this great man justice. But in Work and in deed, we will carry on his legacy, we will pick up the mantle and press forward in his name.
In solidarity,
Ayanna Pressley
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