Civil rights icon, congressman commemorates Voting Rights Act
Months after leading the march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, civil rights leader John Lewis stood by President Lyndon B. Johnson and watched the Voting Rights Act become law.
Forty-nine years later, Lewis, now a congressman from Georgia, commemorated the landmark legislation by taking to a relatively new forum for social movements - Twitter.
Political Circus: Keeping it classy...
(CNN)— Take the free-for-all nature of social media, add the oft-mean spirited commentary that punctuates political circles and you have a recipe for petty online smackdowns.
Conservative commentators Dana Loesch's and Meghan McCain's online back and forth devolved into an hours-long, Twitterverse brawl on the derogatory nature of (drumroll please)… political brawls.
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Rep. Lewis' 'Happy' Dance
Rep. John Lewis: Civil rights movement gave us a purpose
(CNN) – Rep. John Lewis, a Georgia Democrat who was the youngest keynote speaker at the 1963 March on Washington, says on the fiftieth anniversary of the landmark event that the civil rights movement allowed young people’s lives to take on a purpose.
“During the height of the civil rights movement, we grew up, we had something to stand up for,” he told CNN chief political correspondent Candy Crowley on “State of the Union.”
“We had something to believe in. I grew up - I literally grew up on lunch counter stools or going on the Freedom Ride or participating in a march,” he continued. “You had a sense of purpose. You had goals: that we wanted to desegregate the lunch counters, the restaurants, to gain the right to vote.”
Rep. John Lewis: Supreme Court put a 'dagger' in Voting Rights Act
(CNN) - Longtime congressman and veteran civil rights icon John Lewis said the Supreme Court's ruling on the Voting Rights Act dealt a major blow to minorities in the United States.
"It is awful, it's a sad day, I never thought that I would see the day when the U.S. Supreme Court would put a dagger in the heart of the Voting Rights Act of 1965," he said Tuesday on CNN's The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer.
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Lewis slams Republican effort to 'steal' Florida election
(CNN) - Civil rights icon Rep. John Lewis, D-Georgia, leveled an explosive charge in a fundraising email for a candidate seeking to oust a Republican congressman from Florida.
Lewis, wrote that there is a "deliberate and systematic effort on the part of Republican officials to prevent minorities, seniors, the young, and the poor from casting their ballots."
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Rep. Lewis reflects on MLK’s impact
Washington (CNN) – On the morning of the Martin Luther King, Jr. memorial dedication, a longtime Georgia congressman and the last surviving speaker from the March on Washington said King was not only a instrumental figure in American culture—but in him, as well.
“I saw segregation. I saw racial discrimination. I tasted the bitter fruits of racism,” Rep. John Lewis said on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “And he made me a different person. And today I can say I don't have any bitter feelings or have any anger or hatred (toward) human beings.”
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Some Democrats praise, Republicans slam 'Occupy Wall Street'
Washington (CNN) - Politicians fought Sunday to cast the ongoing Wall Street protests in very different light, with two GOP presidential candidates calling them "class warfare" as two prominent Democrats expressed support for the protesters' message.
"They want to be heard," said Rep. John Lewis, D-Georgia. "And at the same time they want to speak to America, speak to people in power, to officials of the American government but also to the business community, especially Wall Street, to corporate America, to bankers. They're saying, in effect, that we bailed out Wall Street and now it's time for Wall Street and corporate America to help bail out the American people.
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Lewis reflects on receiving Medal of Freedom
Washington (CNN) - Congressman John Lewis (D-Georgia) came into the James S. Brady Briefing Room after receiving the nation’s top civilian honor today. Surrounded by reporters, the civil rights icon described the honor as “unreal.”
He recounted his efforts in the civil rights movement, the more than 40 arrests he endured, and the countless times he was left beaten, bloodied, and unconscious. “I didn’t give up, I didn’t give in, I kept the faith, I kept my eyes on the prize,” he said solemnly. “It’s worth every step, every sit-in, every beating, every arrest.”
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House Republicans denounce racial slurs hurled at Democrats
Washington (CNN) - House Republican leaders criticized the use of slurs against Democratic congressmen by protesters on Capitol Hill Saturday, but they called them isolated incidents that shouldn't overshadow the debate over health care.
Three Democratic African-American lawmakers - including civil rights leader Rep. John Lewis of Georgia - said demonstrators against the health care bill yelled racist epithets at them as they walked past. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver of Missouri said a protester spit at him. Rep. Barney Frank of Massachusetts, an openly gay Democrat, said protesters yelled anti-gay comments at him.
House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, called the incidents "reprehensible" but said on NBC's Meet the Press "let's not let a few isolated incidents get in the way of the fact that millions of Americans are scared to
death, and millions of Americans want no part of this growing size of government."
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, appearing on NBC, said, "I think the tone of the this entire debate has been denigrated, has been brought down, frankly, by the rhetoric on government takeover, socialism, things that are not accurate."
"Nobody condones that at all," said House Minority Whip Eric Cantor, R- Virginia. on ABC's "This Week." "There were 30,000 people here in Washington yesterday. And, yes, there were some very awful things said."
Cantor appeared with House Democratic Caucus chairman John Larson, D-Connecticut, who said the incidents show "everybody ought to ratchet back just a little bit."
Asked about Larson's comment, Cantor said "you know what it is time for? It's time to listen to the American people, and that is the stunning thing about this."
On CNN's "State of the Union," Rep. Mike Pence, R-Indiana, called the slurs "contemptible," saying, "I denounce it in the strongest terms."
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