Civil Rights icon and Congressman Rep. John Lewis will be honored at the Alliance for a Better Georgia’s Third Annual Comedy Roast and presented the Progressive Courage Award on August 31. As we prepare for the big event, we’re looking back on the incredible impact Lewis has left on American history and Georgia politics.
Rep. John Lewis is a Civil Rights icon, and he continues to stand up for justice today. Lewis has been in Congress for thirty years, serving as U.S. Representative for Georgia’s 5th congressional district.
When Trump released his atrocious budget that would make cuts to Medicaid, Social Security, education and much more, Lewis spoke out against him and the horrendous effects the cuts would have on the country and our state.
“This administration makes it crystal clear that the hungry, the middle class, the elderly, and the struggling will be left out and left behind,” he said during the House Ways & Means committee’s afternoon hearing with Secretary of the Treasury, Steve Mnuchin.
Lewis is aware of Trump’s true intentions and who this budget is really meant to help — and he’s not afraid to call the president out.
“This budget says more money for war, for guns, for weapons. This budget breaks promise after promise to the American people,” Lewis said at the committee meeting. “I have a strange feeling that this budget is not respecting the American people. The people [of this country] are not a top a priority for this administration…”
Lewis has also been critical of the disastrous Trumpcare, calling the bill a “betrayal of the public trust.”
In June, he hosted a sit-in to protest the bill with New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker on Facebook Live to discuss the health care bill on the Capitol steps, and the event grew into a rally as advocacy groups, tourists, Democratic lawmakers and activists joined the pair to unite against Trumpcare.
At the heart of this event is one of Lewis’s humble, powerful messages that he carried with him through the Civil Rights Movement.
“By sitting in or sitting down, you’re really standing up,” Lewis told Booker. “I say to people all the time, when you see something that is not right, not fair, not just, you have a moral obligation to stand up, to do something, to say something and find a way to get in the way and make a little noise.”
Just as he did during the Civil Rights Movement, Lewis continues to stand up against government officials, even presidents, who threaten the rights of vulnerable Americans and continues to challenge an administration that thrives off injustice. He inspires action and change with the even “smallest” event he takes part in.
You can join The Alliance for a Better Georgia as they honor the historic legacy of this Civil Rights hero.
At The Alliance’s Third Annual Comedy Roast, Rep. Lewis’ friends and colleagues will roast the Congressman for the first time ever, while The Alliance presents Lewis with the prestigious Progressive Courage Award.
Please join the fun on August 31 at 6 p.m. at the Georgia Tech Hotel and Conference Center to honor one of the most important Civil Rights heroes in American history.
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