As the civil rights icon’s body lay in Capitol Hill, Donald Trump said he would not pay respect to the man who almost died while fighting for equal rights in this country.
Donald Trump, who in recent weeks has stirred racial tensions, says he has no plans to visit the late Congressman John Lewis as the civil rights icon lies in state at the US Capitol.
“No I won’t be going,” the president said. “No.”
The president delivered the news as he left the White House for a trip to North Carolina. As he took reporters’ questions, Mr Lewis’ casket had just arrived at the Capitol, where a military honour guard carried his American-flag draped casket up the white stairs and into the rotunda.
Meanwhile, leaders from around the world join the grieving of Rep. John Lewis.
Thank you John for your fight, for teaching us how to fight and for making us a better people.
Representative John Lewis, a son of sharecroppers and an apostle of nonviolence who was bloodied at Selma and across the Jim Crow South in the historic struggle for racial equality, and who then carried a mantle of moral authority into Congress, died on Friday. He was 80.
His death was confirmed in a statement by Nancy Pelosi, the speaker of the House of Representatives.
Mr. Lewis, of Georgia, announced on Dec. 29 that he had Stage 4 pancreatic cancer and vowed to fight it with the same passion with which he had battled racial injustice. “I have been in some kind of fight — for freedom, equality, basic human rights — for nearly my entire life,” he said.
He has stood for what’s right his entire life. So naturally, Rep. John Lewis of Georgia will stand again later this month to boycott Donald Trump and his blatantly racist views when the Republican president delivers his State of The Union Address.
Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.) said Friday that he’ll skip President Trump‘s State of the Union address later this month over the the president’s Thursday comments on “shithole countries,” referring to Haiti, El Salvador and several nations in Africa.
“At this junction, I do not plan to attend the State of the Union,” the longtime Georgia congressman told MSNBC’s Katy Tur.
Lewis, a civil rights icon who marched with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., said he could not bear to be in the same room as Trump after the remarks the president made in a private meeting with lawmakers on a potential immigration deal.
“I cannot in all good conscience be in a room with what he has said about so many Americans. I just cannot do it. I wouldn’t be honest with myself,” Lewis said.
Just 24hrs after Civil Rights legend, John Lewis, said he doesn’t believe Donald Trump is “a legitimate president,” Donald Trump resorted to his default 4 year old character and fired back at the congressman.
In a series of tweets, Trump bullied the congressman, Congressman John Lewis should spend more time on fixing and helping his district, which is in horrible shape and falling apart (not to……mention crime infested) rather than falsely complaining about the election results. All talk, talk, talk – no action or results. Sad!
Congressman John Lewis should spend more time on fixing and helping his district, which is in horrible shape and falling apart (not to……
The congressman previously said “it will be hard” to work with the new president because Trump is not “a legitimate president” because of Russia’s influence in the 2016 presidential election.
“I believe in forgiveness. I believe in trying to work with people. It will be hard. It’s going to be very difficult. I don’t see this president-elect as a legitimate president,” Lewis said.
“I think the Russians participated in helping this man get elected. And they helped destroy the candidacy of Hillary Clinton,” he added.
“I don’t plan to attend the inauguration. It will be the first one that I miss since I’ve been in Congress. You cannot be at home with something that you feel that is wrong, is not right.”
Congressman John Lewis, a Hillary Clinton supporter and endorser, recently made news when he suggested that Bernie Sanders’ claim of being a civil rights activist, wasn’t true. During his endorsement of Hillary Clinton, Lewis said that he never saw Sanders during his travels while fighting for civil rights in his early days.
“I never saw him. I never met him,” John Lewis said. “I was chair of the student non-violent coordinating committee for 3 years, from 1963 to 1966. I was involved in the sit-ins, the freedom ride, the march on Washington, the march from Selma to Montgomery and directed the board of education project for six years… But I met Hillary Clinton. I met President Clinton.”
With some backlash from some, Lewis clarified his statements with this
“In the interest of unity, I want to clarify the statement I made at Thursday’s news conference.
“I was responding to a reporter’s question who asked me to assess Sen. Sanders’ civil rights record. I said that when I was leading and was at the center of pivotal actions within the Civil Rights Movement, I did not meet Sen. Bernie Sanders at any time. The fact that I did not meet him in the movement does not mean I doubted that Sen. Sanders participated in the Civil Rights Movement, neither was I attempting to disparage his activism. Thousands sacrificed in the 1960s whose names we will never know, and I have always given honor to their contribution.”
Why the heck would Republicans be interested in anything to do with Selma? I am disappointed that the Congressional Black Caucus and Rep. John Lewis would expect these Republicans to care about anything to do with the Civil Rights movement.
Rep. John Lewis (D-GA) this week joined the Congressional Black Caucus in complaining that none of the Republican leadership in Congress would be attending a commemoration of the 1965 march for civil rights in Selma, Alabama.
“I wish we had someone in the [Republican] leadership going,” Lewis told Politico in an article published Thursday. “President Bush is going to be there, but I think it would have been fitting and appropriate for them to make a trip.”
Lewis took part in the historic march alongside Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
In his criticism, he was joined by Rep. Marsha Fudge (D-OH) and the caucus chairman, Rep. G.K. Butterfield (D-NC), who was less gentle in his condemnation.
“It is very disappointing that not a single Republican leader sees the value in participating in this 50th commemoration of the signing of the Voting Rights Act. I had hoped that some of the leadership would attend, but apparently none of them will,” Butterfield told Politico.
“The Republicans always talk about trying to change their brand and be more appealing to minority folks and be in touch with the interests of African-Americans,” he added. “This is very disappointing.”
The article noted that Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) and Rep. Martha Roby (R-AL) co-sponsored the event and encouraged at least 23 other GOPers to join them.
UPDATE: It was just reported that out of the entire GOP Congressional body, 1 token member showed up for the Selma events.
On its 50th anniversary, everyone’s praising the Civil Rights Act that passed a bipartisan Congress back in 1964. Even Rand Paul had some good things to say about it. But if today’s Congress was given that opportunity to do something big, as big as voting on that bill, what would be the outcome?
Congressman John Lewis, a man who has carried the scars of a life-long struggle for civil rights, used this 50th anniversary of the law to share some unbelievable truths – that the Congress of 2014 is so partisan, so divided, that something as important as the Civil Rights Act would not even be brought to the floor for a vote.
In a tweet, Congressman Lewis said this;
And the congressman is absolutely correct. Today’s Congress – specifically the Republicans – is presently on pace to be the least effective Congress in the history of this country. They have said and demonstrated time and again, that making the president fail is more important than making the country succeed. They have lied, called him childish names with ugly racial undertones, multiple threats of impeachment and now a threat to sue the president by the Republican House Speaker, John Boehner.
These so called leaders have failed time and again to take up any of the president’s proposal, failed to agree on a single jobs bill and even failed to keep the government open, a basic requirement and part of their job description as laid out in the constitution.
If these people couldn’t agree to keep the lights on in Washington, passing a major bill like the civil rights act of 1964 is way above their qualifications.
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