John,

Rep. John Lewis is an American hero. While no hero is perfect, because
even heroes are human, John Lewis was a fighter for all people against
injustice and oppression. With his passing on Friday from pancreatic
cancer, America loses a civil rights icon.

Throughout his life, Lewis didn’t stand down when faced with police led
violence against non-violent protesters.

In 1965, he was attacked and beaten repeatedly by police and white mobs
during the Freedom Rides protests meant to end segregation. In Rock Hill,
South Carolina, he was forced to the ground, kicked in the ribs and
beaten. In Birmingham, he and other Freedom Riders were beaten with
baseball bats, chains, lead pipes, and stones. After a Freedom Ride in
Mississippi, John Lewis spent 40 days in the State Penitentiary. And in
Montgomery, Alabama, he was left unconscious on the floor of a Greyhound
bus station after being hit in the head with a wooden crate.

On March 7th, 1965, John Lewis, representing the Student Nonviolent
Coordinating Committee was a leader of the Selma to Montgomery march that
became known as “Bloody Sunday” after 17 marchers were hospitalized,
including a 14 year old girl who needed 35 stitches above her eye and back
of her skull, after stormtroopers acting on the orders of Alabama Governor
George Wallance trapped them on Edmund Pettus Bridge.

Photographs of Amelia Boynton laying beaten and unconscious on that bridge
in Alabama named after a Confederate General was front page news around
the globe and shocked the nation.

Out of tragedy, hope and justice was born.

In response, 8 days later, President Lyndon Johnson sent what became the
Voting Rights Act to Congress and on August 8th, 1965, he signed it into
law.

Congress and the President acted because Americans nationwide rose up and
demanded it. They demanded results and they got it. After years and years
of hard work, change finally came because in the face of tragedy, the
civil rights movement didn’t back down -- they escalated.

We’re on the edge of creating great change in America again. Right now.

We’re fighting to make change happen in elections across the country this
November, but Congress doesn’t have to wait. Congress can act now.

In 2013, the Supreme Court gutted key provisions of the Voting Rights Act
and immediately states, especially in the South and always targeting
communities of color and young people, returned to many of the same voter
suppression tactics of the past, while also finding new and more effective
ways to increase it. The good news is the Supreme Court told Congress
exactly what they need to do to fix the law and make it constitutional.

On December 6th, 2019, Rep. John Lewis gaveled in a bipartisan vote in the
House approving the new Voting Rights Advancement Act.

[ [link removed] ]It’s time to finish the job. John Lewis fought his whole life to
guarantee voting rights for all Americans and now it’s time to honor his
legacy by making the Voting Rights Advancement Act the law of the land.
Turn tragedy into hope and justice. Sign our petition to Congress right
now.

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To end white supremacy and structural racism in America, we can’t focus
solely on police accountability and criminal justice reform. We must take
on every institution and corporation to root out inequity and white
supremacy in every form. From healthcare and education to jobs and
opportunity, from everything to everywhere we need to look hard at what we
can do and take action.

Rep. Lewis was a living legend. Now, let’s demand Congress cement his
legacy with victory in one of the greatest fights of his life.

[ [link removed] ]Join us in calling on Congress to honor the legacy of voting rights
hero Congressman John Lewis and protect the right to vote nationwide by
passing the Voting Rights Advancement Act immediately.

Thank you for everything you’re doing to protect America’s vote.

— Charles

Charles Chamberlain, Chair
Democracy for America






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