Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
Almost fifty years from the day of his original address at the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, Civil Rights Movement icon Representative John Lewis,
the last surviving speaker of the March, once again called out from
before the Lincoln Memorial for equality and voting rights. John Lewis At March On Washington: ‘I’m Not Going To Stand By And Let The Supreme Court Take The Right To Vote Away’:
“When I stood here 50 years ago, I said one man, one vote is the
African cry. It is ours, too. it must be ours,” he began, before
connecting the demands of 1963 to today’s struggles. “Almost 50 years
ago, I gave a little blood on that bridge in Selma, Alabama, for the
right to vote. I am not going to stand by and let the Supreme Court take
the right to vote away from us!”
LEWIS: You cannot stand by. You cannot sit down. You have to stand up, speak up, speak out and get in the way. Make some noise. The
vote is precious. It is almost sacred. It’s the most powerful
non-violent tool we have in a democratic society and we’ve got to use
it. Back in 1963 we didn’t have a cellular telephone, iPad,
iPod, but we used what we had to bring about a non-violent revolution.
And I said to all of the young people, you must get out there and push
and pull and make America what America should be for all of us. We must
say to the Congress, ‘Fix the Voting Rights Act.’
Watch the full speech below, via MSNBC:
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