Political Quotes

“As we have been hearing and continue to hear, the passing of John Lewis represents a loss for America of one of our greatest heroes and, for many of us, a dear and old friend. John and I were sworn in together in this Chamber 33 years ago as classmates in the 100th Congress. There were only four African Americans elected to Congress that year, he, myself, Floyd Flake of New York, and Mike Espy of Mississippi. We huddled with John here on the floor, and he made all of us hug each other. He said: We got here in different ways, but we are one band of brothers now. The passion and the equality that he carried with him throughout his life, as we know, never waned. His untiring quest for justice never faltered. With a big heart for compassion, John, like his mentor, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., was unawed by opinion, unseduced by flattery, and undismayed by disaster. Birthed in an area of Jim Crow and vile and vicious segregation, he defied the limitedness of others' expectations. John knew that politics changed people, so he set out early to change politics. {time} 1915 Everything about him pointed to the fact that he was emblematic of that great band of freedom fighters who realized that freedom wasn't free. In this era where everyone seems to be searching for the next big thing or the next great thing, isn't it odd, Mr. Speaker, that the greatness of John Lewis was with us all along? We needed only to look as far as the latest movement for social change to find it.…”