SALEM — Sixth District Rep. Seth Moulton said Saturday that no one commanded more respect in the House of Representatives chamber than John Lewis.
“When I grew up, we seemed to have a lot of great American heroes around. From the greatest generation who won World War II,” said Moulton, a congressman since 2015.
“‘”Good Morning, Sir!’ was my usual greeting, not because of my Marine background or his age — most people in Congress are older than me — but simply because there is nobody in Congress who had more respect. Nobody.”
Lewis, a key figure in the 1960s Civil Rights movement died Friday after a six-month battle with pancreatic cancer.
Moulton said that while Lewis may have been a fierce advocate for civil rights, he was also “a loving, caring, indefatigably optimistic friend and mentor, especially to young people like me.
“Through all the turmoil of the last few years, there are only two times I’ve cried in Congress: visiting the prison in Hanoi with John McCain and visiting Atlanta with John Lewis.”
Moulton talked of Lewis’ skirts with death in places like Atlanta — his hometown — and Alabama during the 1960s civil rights movement.
“If you ever doubt what a hero John and his fellow American patriots were, spend some time in Atlanta, or Birmingham, or Selma, where he came within an inch of his life fighting to uphold a nation’s ideals, even when the nation said they don’t apply to you or your family,” Moulton said. “I found myself wondering if I would have had the courage to join in those protests, to be a freedom fighter, to change a nation. That’s what John Lewis did: he changed America, and in so doing, he changed the world. And he never lost faith in either as he did it.”
Lewis maintained his optimism about today’s political climate despite his serious questions about it, Moulton said.
“During the impeachment trial, I asked him if he’d ever seen it this bad. And while he told me, ‘Never, not even during the Civil Rights Movement because, he said, there was more hope, more movement,’ he nonetheless maintained his characteristic optimism and looked at me confidently, like a preacher to a Sunday School student, and said, ‘But, don’t worry, we’ll get through it. Keep the faith, brother. Keep the faith.’
“That’s what John Lewis did: he changed America, and in so doing, he changed the world. And he never lost faith in either as he did it,” Moulton said.
