On the recordJuly 22, 2020
Today I rise to honor a great man, Representative John Lewis. This past Friday, July 17, our country lost one of its greatest heroes, a true patriot, who literally put his life on the line in the pursuit of justice and fairness in our society. The Honorable John Lewis was a penultimate hero who embodied the struggle for human rights and dignity. He was a fierce civil rights warrior, who refused to abide by the Jim Crow laws of the South. He embodied what it means to be a public servant, putting his life on the line and the people above his own self-interests. I am so honored and privileged to have served with John Robert Lewis--John Robert Lewis, who was a dancer, a man who loved to have fun but was convicted for the right to vote, convicted as an activist for civil rights and civil liberties. And I will forever hold dear the moment that we landed in Ghana together, invited by the President of Ghana for the Year of Return, and to see the wonderment in his eyes of visiting a space where it all began for all of us 401 years ago. May he rest in peace and rise in power. The Honorable John Lewis will never be forgotten. We all hold onto his legacy.
