Civil rights icon Lewis lauded as a warrior at Georgia Capitol
ATLANTA — John Lewis was lauded as a warrior and hero throughout a ceremony Wednesday on the Georgia Capitol, the place the civil rights icon who represented a lot of Atlanta in Congress will lie in repose in one of many final memorials earlier than he’s buried.
Referencing the poem by Langston Hughes, Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms stated Lewis referred to as on “America to be America once more.”
“And so we collect right here at this time in what was as soon as a stronghold of the Confederacy collectively as a result of this prophet lived and this prophet named John Lewis cherished,” she stated.
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp referred to as Lewis a “beloved Georgian, an American hero and a good friend to all who sought a greater, fairer, extra united society.”
“And even at this time, as our nation faces a public well being disaster and new challenges rooted in injustice, I do know that the instance left behind by Congressman Lewis … will encourage all of us to do the exhausting needed work to beat our shared challenges and emerge stronger,” Kemp stated.
Individuals lined the streets because the hearse carrying Lewis’ physique moved by means of downtown. It stopped briefly in entrance of a mural of Lewis with the phrase “Hero” earlier than arriving on the state Capitol, the place it was met by Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp and Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms.
Members of the general public later filed into the state Capitol rotunda to pay their respects to Lewis, pausing to take pictures in entrance of his flag-draped coffin. A personal burial service in Atlanta is scheduled for Thursday.
Bottoms recalled that Lewis’ spouse would go to her mom’s salon and stated she was deeply moved when the congressman’s chief of workers informed her a few days in the past that Lewis was watching information of Atlanta and happy with its management.
Bottoms not too long ago defied Kemp and required individuals to put on masks throughout the coronavirus outbreak, prompting a lawsuit from Kemp. The 2 have additionally clashed over the governor’s determination to mobilize the Nationwide Guard within the metropolis earlier this month after a weekend of gun violence left 5 individuals lifeless, together with an 8-year-old lady.
Bottoms appeared to reference the fights in recalling Lewis’ reward, echoing his signature recommendation to get into “good bother.”
“And so, governor, when the nice bother continues, know that it’s with the blessings of Congressman Lewis,” she stated to applause.
Wednesday’s service is a part of a sequence of public remembrances for Lewis that started over the weekend.
A memorial service on the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Monday drew congressional leaders from each events. Lewis was the primary Black lawmaker to lie in state within the Capitol Rotunda. Shortly after 9 a.m. Wednesday, his flag-draped casket was carried down the Capitol steps and positioned in a hearse as individuals watched solemnly, many with their fingers on their hearts.
On Sunday, his casket was carried throughout the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama, the place the one-time “Freedom Rider” was amongst civil rights demonstrators overwhelmed by state troopers in 1965.
Lewis died July 17 on the age of 80. Born to sharecroppers throughout Jim Crow segregation, he was overwhelmed by Alabama state troopers throughout the civil rights motion, spoke forward of Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech on the 1963 March on Washington and was awarded the Medal of Freedom by the nation’s first Black president in 2011.
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