Senator Hassan Statement on the Passing of Congressman John Lewis

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Maggie Hassan (D-NH) released the following statement on the passing of Congressman John Lewis:

“Congressman John Lewis was a towering American hero who dedicated his life to making our country more just and more free. Any single one of John’s accomplishments would have been remarkable on its own. He was one of the original Freedom Riders, a founder of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, and the last living speaker from the March on Washington, which he helped organize. John forever bore the physical scars of Bloody Sunday in Selma, when his bravery helped shock the nation and dealt a devastating blow to the racist Jim Crow system. And for the last 33 years, he brought his vital moral leadership to the halls of Congress.

“While our country has lost the man known as the ‘conscience of the Congress,’ we must not lose his courageous commitment to fighting for equality, freedom, and justice for all. In this time of national reckoning over our country’s history and reality of racial inequality, we are painfully reminded of just how much of John’s work remains unfinished. Now more than ever, we must draw on John’s unwavering optimism for the better future that we can build together by getting into some ‘good trouble.’

“Rest well John Lewis and be at peace. You did far more than your fair share to bring us closer to justice.”

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