# RIP John Lewis **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [July 18, 2020, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-john-lewis/915662 "2020-07-18T12:59:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2020, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-john-lewis/915662/1 "2020-07-18T12:59:51Z")
John Lewis has passed away. He was one of the few politicians that I had actual respect for. I was an adult before I even heard about the freedom riders, when I was informed by a television documentary. Look up information about the freedom riders if you are unaware of what they did. We lost a brave leader with this passing. > **[John Lewis: from civil rights titan to Black Lives Matter](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jul/18/john-lewis-from-civil-rights-titan-to-black-lives-matter)** > > The late congressman’s lifelong fight for equality mirrored the US’s racial struggles ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2020, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-john-lewis/915662/2 "2020-07-18T13:11:28Z")
Oh man. This is sad. I almost met him a couple of times. Truly a lion. ---
**Author:** ![carlb](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carlb/32/5930_2.png) [@carlb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carlb)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2020, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-john-lewis/915662/3 "2020-07-18T14:26:04Z")
I have cried multiple times this morning, and I am a middle-aged, privileged white man. I cannot begin to understand the grief that those to whom he meant more must be feeling. It’s probably the collected awfulness of the recent past piling up to make me feel this more acutely, but this morning I’m feeling a great deal of shame that I have done nothing even remotely as courageous and selfless as Mr. Lewis did on any number of discrete occasions in his lifetime. Granted, we can’t all take part in something iconic like the Selma march, but we can all do more. Some of us, and I’m looking at myself right now, should do a _lot_ more. If we had any collective sense there would already be a piece of legislation or an ordinance to, today, as soon as someone can get out there, rename that bridge the John Lewis Memorial Bridge and consign Edmund Pettus to ignominy where he belongs. ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2020, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-john-lewis/915662/4 "2020-07-18T15:12:46Z")
Could 2020 _be_ any worse? Don’t need answers fast. ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2020, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-john-lewis/915662/5 "2020-07-18T23:40:44Z")
Renaming the Edmund Pettus bridge would be a good tribute to John Lewis, but it’s possible that a more vital initiative would be to get the Voting Rights Act beefed up: > [@](#): > > … Stabenow responded Saturday to McConnell’s statement in a tweet, where she called for the senator to honor Lewis’ memory by passing a bill pertaining to voting rights. > > “John Lewis almost died marching for the Voting Rights Act. Why has a bill to restore that law been sitting on your desk for 225 days? Let’s finally pass this bill next week and name it in honor of Rep. John Lewis,” she wrote. > > The bill that Stabenow was referring to is [H.R. 4](https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/4/text), an amendment to the Voting Rights Act of 1965. … > **[McConnell's Remembrance of John Lewis Prompts Criticism Over Stalled Bill](https://www.newsweek.com/mitch-mcconnell-john-lewis-memorial-criticism-voting-rights-act-1518862)** > > John Lewis played an integral part in the passage of the Voting Rights Act in 1965. I like the remembrances of John Lewis that include quotations from his long career in public life. He made some very memorable remarks over the years; a few are collected here: > **['Get in good trouble, necessary trouble': Rep. John Lewis in his own words](https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2020/07/18/rep-john-lewis-most-memorable-quotes-get-good-trouble/5464148002/)** > > Devoting his life to racial justice and equity, Rep. John R. Lewis was an unmatched orator. Here are some of his most memorable quotes. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2020, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-john-lewis/915662/6 "2020-07-19T05:01:00Z")
A real loss. I wish there were more like him. ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2020, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-john-lewis/915662/7 "2020-07-19T23:44:56Z")
A lighter moment: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/FaaLjG2BDWE/hqdefault.jpg "John Lewis discusses crowd surfing on the Late Show with Stephen Colbert") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FaaLjG2BDWE) ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2020, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-john-lewis/915662/8 "2020-07-20T00:01:46Z")
Oh, that’s great!!! ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2020, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-john-lewis/915662/9 "2020-07-26T17:02:20Z")
Very moving photo: [![](https://www.washingtonpost.com/resizer/HdC9bC1ehOZYBxea3U2kaXTg3Lk=/1248x832/arc-anglerfish-washpost-prod-washpost.s3.amazonaws.com/public/7QVQQBGPLMI6VATLZQ4U3ASOGU.jpg) ](https://www.washingtonpost.com/resizer/HdC9bC1ehOZYBxea3U2kaXTg3Lk=/1248x832/arc-anglerfish-washpost-prod-washpost.s3.amazonaws.com/public/7QVQQBGPLMI6VATLZQ4U3ASOGU.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2020, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-john-lewis/915662/10 "2020-11-29T17:19:04Z")
I think this is the only exception I have made to my “don’t have heroes” rule. I have been lucky to see him up close, although I never got the chance to speak to him. I was hoping that in my new job, I would get that chance. A guy at work has an edition of his comic book signed in person by Lewis—I was quite jealous— > **[March (comics)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/March_(comics))** > > Pages for logged out editors learn more > > The March trilogy is an autobiographical black and white graphic novel trilogy about the Civil rights movement, told through the perspective of civil rights leader and U.S. Congressman John Lewis. The series is written by Lewis and Andrew Aydin, and illustrated and lettered by Nate Powell. The first volume, March: Book One, was published in August 2013, by Top Shelf Productions. and the second volume, March: Book Two, was published in January 2015... I’ll always remember a bit he did on _The Daily Show_. Some Republicans were peddling some nonsense about how today’s black politicians would be scorned by Martin Luther King and had no idea what King’s values were, and Lewis pointed out that he was one of King’s close associates. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2020, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-john-lewis/915662/11 "2020-11-29T17:29:12Z")
I have autographed copies of the first two March graphic novels. Lewis did an autographing tour for at least those two volumes. I don’t remember anymore why I couldn’t get the third one signed. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2020, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-john-lewis/915662/12 "2020-11-30T16:20:24Z")
Nice!