John Lewis has died | Hacker News Reader

John Lewis has died

politico.com

239 pointsenraged_camel24 comments

He was my representative before redistricting.

If you don't know his story, it's worth taking the time. He got himself beat up to unconsciousness so that the rest of the United States would not be able to ignore the brutality of its racist South.

Thanks for this. Read his Wikipedia page[0] and a few blue links. Crazy how wild the 60s were with racism! The police did nothing to stop mobs because of people riding on a bus... Mind blowing

0: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Lewis_(civil_rights_leade...

Big loss at one of the most pressing time in American history. Here he is advocating non-violence and peaceful protests and wishing well to the people of Hong Kong: https://twitter.com/RepTomSuozzi/status/1187375246204162053

Worth mentioning about another civil rights leader whom we had lost few months ago - Elijah Cummings.

Edit -

I was waiting for Obama's statement, and here it's - https://medium.com/@BarackObama/my-statement-on-the-passing-...

> “He loved this country so much that he risked his life and his blood so that it might live up to its promise.”

Our country is full of hypocrisy, but every so often citizens like John Lewis call us out on it and push us a little closer toward our ideals.

FYI just in case you're not a native English speaker, you generally can't end a sentence with the contraction "it's."

The actual reason is much more complex than the simple rule of thumb, but if you're interested in a thorough explanation: https://english.stackexchange.com/a/2547

Hey! I'll keep that in mind. Thank you so much for taking your time to correct me and sharing the details.

He was 80 when he died and not all that young when he took a stand.

We are closer to barbarity in time and in fact than we are comfortable acknowledging. Vale.

If Bill Gates has been born black in my Maryland county, he’d have gone to segregated schools until high school.

Barbara Walters, Martin Luther King & Anne Frank were all born in the same year.

To your point, what we think of as "history" wasn't that long ago.

I think the US military[1] is ahead of the US in general[2] on equality because it started integrating in 1948:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23869499

[1] also from 1948: http://www.gutenberg.org/files/48612/48612-h/48612-h.htm

"If our difference of opinion is so inclusive that we can agree on nothing political, our differences have gone from mere opinion into the depths of ideology. Here the institutional framework is affected. You and I would not want to live in the same city; we could not feel safe in one another's presence; each would be afraid of the effect which the other might have on the morals of the community. If I were a Nazi, and you a democrat, you would not like the idea of my children living next door to yours. If I believed that you were a good enough creature—poor deluded devil—but that you were not fit to vote, scarcely to be trusted with property, not to be trusted as an army officer, and generally subversive and dangerous, you would find it hard to get along with me."

Keeping in mind that Linebarger was writing with an eye to being "unobjectionable on the score of security by the Department of the Army", and from other dots scattered through the text, I would not be surprised if the last sentence had had a more concrete reference than its abstract wording suggests.

[2] reasons for optimism: https://edition.cnn.com/2020/06/18/politics/peggy-wallace-ke...

George Wallace (1963): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Wallace%27s_1963_Inaugu...

George Wallace's grandson (1996) asked why his grandfather did such horrible things to other people.

(Apparently left to his own devices, Wallace might've been more moderate. But his constituency demanded more, as in The Candidate, so he declared "I was out-niggered by John Patterson. And I'll tell you here and now, I will never be out-niggered again.")

By coincidence John Lewis’s graphic-novel memoir _March_ was released around the time of the 2016 U.S. presidential election, and it made me feel optimistic in what otherwise felt like a dark winter. I can’t recommend it highly enough.

He lived the fight for justice and equality through almost or all of modernity. His weapons were his will, his strength to face violence with nonviolence, the truth of equality, the evil realities of racism, and justice, and nonviolent protests. And he was a politician. House Representatives are not graced with the immunities US Senators are. To my knowledge, John Lewis never once was investigated let alone found guilty of offense as a Representative. His is an example for generations to follow - and he did lead generations.

I genuinely hope to see an America someday in my life which expects and enforces the highest of its politicians again. There was a time where being a politician was respectable and honorable. It’s the position they should hold. I hope we regain that societal cohesion again. I think John Lewis was one such politician.

He is missed.

Another reminder of the importance of taking the periodic, thoughtful moment to document the type of imprint each of us would like to have left on this world once we're gone.

Rip to a great man

Quite a man.

I didn't align with the man politically, but I admire how much of his life he spent working to improve this country for others. A life well lived.

He's known politically for ending racial segregation.

He did many things in Congress unrelated to civil rights. Those votes are not in alignment with many, who still respect him.

Which votes?

This is not a place to go into points of disagreement.

Yes, hence the working to improve the country comment. He was also a representative for over 30 years.

I'm going to guess that you wouldn't align with me politically either, but I'm heartened by your good will.

We need more of this -- finding agreement despite differences.

Well said. It's important to remember that we have far more in common with those we disagree with than we do dividing us.

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