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.
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.
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.
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
