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“My dear friends, your vote is precious, almost sacred. It is the most powerful, nonviolent tool we have to create a more perfect union.” - Rep. John Lewis (D-GA) at the 2012 Democratic National Convention.
As I’ve written before, the term “civil rights” covers all social justice issues, and Rep. John Lewis (D-GA), an ally to the LGBT community, has literally taken body blows for equality. Today it is almost unthinkable that we’re talking about the basic right to vote and the incessant attacks on the right to disenfranchise voters they believe will not cast their ballot for Republicans.
Lewis brought this up in a powerful speech at the Dem Convention today. Here are the remarks as prepared for delivery.
I first came to this city in 1961, the year Barack Obama was born. I was one of the 13 original “Freedom Riders.” We were on a bus ride from Washington to New Orleans trying to test a recent Supreme Court ruling that banned racial discrimination on buses crossing state lines and in the stations that served them. Here in Charlotte, a young African-American rider got off the bus and tried to get a shoe shine in a so-called white waiting room. He was arrested and taken to jail.
On that same day, we continued on to Rock Hill, South Carolina, about 25 miles. From here, when my seatmate, Albert Bigelow, and I tried to enter a white waiting room, we were met by an angry mob that beat us and left us lying in a pool of blood. Some police officers came up and asked us whether we wanted to press charges. We said, “No, we come in peace, love and nonviolence.” We said our struggle was not against individuals, but against unjust laws and customs. Our goal was true freedom for every American.
Since then, America has made a lot of progress. We are a different society than we were in 1961. And in 2008, we showed the world the true promise of America when we elected President Barack Obama. A few years ago, a man from Rock Hill, inspired by President Obama’s election, decided to come forward. He came to my office in Washington and said, “I am one of the people who beat you. I want to apologize. Will you forgive me?” I said, “I accept your apology.” He started crying. He gave me a hug. I hugged him back, and we both started crying. This man and I don’t want to go back; we want to move forward.
Brothers and sisters, do you want to go back? Or do you want to keep America moving forward? My dear friends, your vote is precious, almost sacred. It is the most powerful, nonviolent tool we have to create a more perfect union. Not too long ago, people stood in unmovable lines. They had to pass a so-called literacy test, pay a poll tax. On one occasion, a man was asked to count the number of bubbles in a bar of soap. On another occasion, one was asked to count the jelly beans in a jar—all to keep them from casting their ballots.
Today it is unbelievable that there are Republican officials still trying to stop some people from voting. They are changing the rules, cutting polling hours and imposing requirements intended to suppress the vote. The Republican leader in the Pennsylvania House even bragged that his state’s new voter ID law is “gonna allow Governor Romney to win the state.” That’s not right. That’s not fair. That’s not just.
And similar efforts have been made in Texas, Ohio, Florida, Wisconsin, Arizona, Georgia and South Carolina. I’ve seen this before. I’ve lived this before. Too many people struggled, suffered and died to make it possible for every American to exercise their right to vote.
And we have come too far together to ever turn back. So we must not be silent. We must stand up, speak up and speak out. We must march to the polls like never before. We must come together and exercise our sacred right. And together, on November 6, we will re-elect the man who will lead America forward: President Barack Obama.
16 Comments
What is even more unbelievable, at least to me, is that too few Democrats are doing anything about it. I mean, where’s the outrage? We are living in a world in which at the same time conservatives are getting outraged over something Obama didn’t say, Democrats take a look at voter suppression efforts and decide to either yawn or cower. It’s unconscionable.
That was an emotional speech. If I had to guess it will motivate someone to do something about it. I hope so.
Denial, maybe? “Stuff like that doesn’t really happen”. “The courts will strike it down”. That sort of thing.
This issue is in the courts.
A true Giant, thanks for getting this up right away Pam – one of the major issues of our day
yeah – Mayor Nutter should have gone there too, Philadelphia voters are under attack this year.
Let’s hope this turns into a bit of a firestorm.
I have to agree with others that it’s unconscionable that Democrats appear to be sitting on their thumbs and doing bupkiss about this. Where is the outrage? Frankly, looks to me like Democrats could give a stuff.
I seem to remember that folks in Philadelphia had good turn out for demos against the new voter ID law in PA. But I don’t recall any Dem pols shouting from the roof tops about how bad this law really is.
Is this a case of collusion? Sure looks that way to me.
Once again this great man brought me to tears, and I’m so glad Rachel highlighted his speech. I find it unfathomable that with Congressman Lewis’ poignant and tragic yet ultimately victorious personal experience so recent in our own living history, that a single member of the party of Lincoln would besmirch these great men’s legacy so egregiously.
Shame on ALEC, shame on Republicans, and shame on any of us that do not march on our state capitals and demand our democracy back from the plutocrats if they steal this election.
I was fortunate enough to catch that interview and review of the life of Mr. Lewis on “Democracy Now” with Amy Goodman. What a contribution this man has made, one that affects us all and should make us both proud and determined to help end the injustices that still haunt this nation.
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I am happy to see that Margaret and I are in common agreement on this point at least.
President Obama was very eager to sign Boehner’s “Grand Bargain” which would have ended SS and medicare as we know it. Shouldn’t Rep. John Lewis find this more shocking and unbelievable than anything else he has heard until today.
John Lewis is correct.
It’s just a damn shame the Obama administration and Eric Holder didn’t block more of these voting rollbacks.
I love and respect this man for all his contributions to our democracy. He walks the talk, he is the real honest thing.
The march needs to happen BEFORE the election otherwise the results will stand and the protests, no matter how well justified, will be dismissed by the victors as more sour grapes.
Republicans have done the calculus correctly and determined that their base is so ethnically, religiously, and age narrow and their proposals so odious to most Americans that they simply can’t win on the merits. Cheating is their only option.
The impression I got from the speeches is that the court injunction strategy has a Plan B of registering so many people and turning out so many voters prepared to wait in long lines for however long it takes. I hope that there is that determination among those voting in states that have passed laws or implemented practices designed to frustrate voters.
far more unbelievable to me is that Democrats controlled Congress from 2007 to 2011 and did nothing about it.