Tag: Rep. Lewis
Barack Obama calls out Trump and GOP’s brutal crackdowns and voter suppression in powerful John Lewis eulogy
Former President Barack Obama delivered an impassioned, rousing, and at times blistering eulogy on Thursday at a memorial service for Rep. John Lewis. Instead of showing the usual reserve and hesitancy to criticize that has characterized most of his post-presidency, Obama took inspiration from the fallen civil rights hero and aimed his fury specifically at the myriad abuses of the Trump administration and the Republican Party on American freedoms and fair elections.
“George Wallace may be gone, but we can witness our federal government sending agents to use tear gas and batons against peaceful demonstrators,” he said, drawing cheers and applause from the attendees. “We may no longer have to guess the number of jelly beans in a jar to cast a ballot, but even as we sit here, there are those in power doing their darndest to discourage people from voting, by closing polling locations and targeting minorities and students with restrictive ID laws, and attacking our voting rights with surgical precision. Even undermining the postal service in the run-up to an election that’s going to be dependent on mail-in ballots so people don’t get sick!”
For those who might criticize such direct denunciations of the GOP and the president’s actions at a memorial service, Obama had a brilliant prepared response. Continue reading.
Obama calls filibuster ‘Jim Crow relic,’ backs new Voting Rights Act bill
Former President Obama on Thursday called the Senate filibuster rule a “Jim Crow relic” and said it should be ended to help pass legislation that would restore a key provision of the Voting Rights Act.
Obama made the remarks while delivering a eulogy for civil rights icon Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.), who died earlier this month at the age of 80. The John R. Lewis Voting Rights Act would make it harder for states to enact racially suspect voting restrictions.
“Once we pass the John Lewis Voting Rights Act, we should keep marching,” Obama said. “And if all this takes eliminating the filibuster — another Jim Crow relic — in order to secure the God-given rights of every American, then that’s what we should do.” Continue reading.
Donald Trump says he won’t attend John Lewis’ memorial services
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said Monday he will not be attending memorial services for civil rights icon Rep. John Lewis this week.
Lewis will lie in state at the Capitol as part of six days of funeral proceedings, and the public will be allowed to visit later Monday and Tuesday. Lewis died July 17 from pancreatic cancer at 80.
“No, I won’t be going, no,” Trump told reporters when asked if he would pay respects to Lewis Monday or Tuesday at the Capitol. Trump departed the White House for a trip to North Carolina Monday afternoon, where he’ll visit a facility working on a COVID-19 vaccine. Continue reading.
Where was Donald Trump when John Lewis was fighting for civil rights? Let’s compare.
The following column by Petula Dvorak was posted on the Washington Post website January 16, 2017:
We shouldn’t be surprised anymore.
There’s apparently no depth too low for Donald Trump to sink in his unpresidented attacks on anyone who challenges him. And Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.) certainly did that, citing Russian interference in the election and questioning the legitimacy of Trump’s presidency.
Even so, the president-elect’s Twitter tirade against Lewis at the beginning of the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend is still mind-boggling and a national embarrassment. Continue reading “Where was Donald Trump when John Lewis was fighting for civil rights? Let’s compare.”