U.S. congressman John Lewis dies at 80
The pioneer of rights movement and congressman of the United States house of Representative, John Lewis has died.
The congressman, who died from complications of advanced pancreatic cancer on Friday July 17, 2020, hailed from Atlanta.
“I have been in some kind of fight – for freedom, equality, basic human rights – for nearly my entire life,” he said in a statement released at the time.
“I have never faced a fight quite like the one I have now.” Lewis had said.
Honorable Speaker Nancy Pelosi while announcing the death in a press release said, “John Lewis was a titan of the civil rights movement whose goodness, faith and bravery transformed our nation – from the determination with which he met discrimination at lunch counters and on Freedom Rides, to the courage he showed as a young man facing down violence and death on Edmund Pettus Bridge, to the moral leadership he brought to the Congress for more than 30 years.”
“In the Congress, John Lewis was revered and beloved on both sides of the aisle and both sides of the Capitol.
All of us were humbled to call Congressman Lewis a colleague, and are heartbroken by his passing,” she added.
Since the announcement, many tributes have been pouring in from different politicians.
Senator Kamala Harris, took to her Twitter handle to express her grief.
She tweeted, “John Lewis was an icon who fought with every ounce of his being to advance the cause of civil rights for all Americans.
“I’m devastated for his family, friends, staff – and all those whose lives he touched.”
U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren also wrote on Twitter, “John Lewis was a true American hero and the moral compass of our nation. May his courage and conviction live on in all of us as we continue to make good trouble for justice and opportunity.”
An activist who founded Fair Fight, a voting rights group in Georgia, also said, “Our conscience, he was a griot of this modern age, one who saw its hatred but fought ever towards the light and never once did he begrudge sharing its beauty. I loved him & will miss him.”
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