Former Presidents Barack Obama, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton were among those to pay tribute to the late civil rights icon at the historic Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta. And Obama used his to level criticism at what he sees as the Trump administration's attack on voting rights.
Former Presidents Barack Obama, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton gave speeches on Thursday at the funeral for Rep. John Lewis, the revered civil rights leader and Democratic congressman from Georgia who died earlier this month.
“I know this is a celebration of John’s life. There are some who might say we shouldn’t dwell on such things,” Obama said. “But that’s why I’m talking about it.” He said Lewis “devoted his time on this earth fighting the very attacks on democracy ... that we’re seeing circulate right now.” The first Black president recalled an early example of that perseverance while Lewis was fighting for desegregation in Nashville, Tenn., the early 1960s.
That year, Lewis was beaten by police on the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Ala., where state troopers beat and used tear gas against peaceful marchers who were advocating against racial discrimination. “The thing is, I imagine initially, that day, the troopers thought they’d won the battle,” Obama said. “Except this time there were some cameras there.
"John and I had our disagreements, of course," Bush said."But in the America John Lewis fought for and the America I believe in, differences of opinion are inevitable elements and evidence of democracy in action. We the people, including congressmen and presidents, can have differing views on how to perfect our union while sharing the conviction that our nation however flawed is at heart a good and noble one. We live in a better and nobler country today because of John Lewis.
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