Musicians Pay Tribute to Civil Rights Leader, Rep. John Lewis
- Lewis, 80, died July 17
After hearing Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.) had died, Paul McCartney proposed renaming the Edmund Pettus Bridge in the late Civil Rights pioneer’s honor.
“He was such a great leader who fought with honesty and bravery for civil rights in America,” McCartney wrote on Facebook. “Long may his memory remain in our hearts.”
McCartney was one of several musicians who paused to eulogize Lewis - who died July 17 of pancreatic cancer at age 80. Those musicians included Jamey Johnson, who shared a picture of himself and Lewis at that very bridge at the heart of the Civil Rights movement.
Johnson called Lewis “a man of immutable conviction, peaceful mind and abundant heart,” and cited one of Lewis’ famous phrases in praising his ideals.
“He personified stories I had only otherwise heard about in documentaries. Thank you for teaching us how to get in ‘good trouble,’” Johnson wrote on Facebook.
“So much love, honor and respect for John Lewis,” Ice Cube tweeted. “Although we never met, I’ve always admired your courage. Rest in peace, Mr. Lewis. We got it from here.”
Lewis was the last surviving speaker from the 1963 March on Washington. And though his voice is now silenced, Sheila E said, “Your revolutionary work will not and cannot be forgotten.”
“Rest in power, John Lewis,” Rhiannon Giddens wrote on Facebook. “You gave more than anyone should have to give to the fight for equality.”
Writing on Twitter, John Legend called on Americans to turn their mourning toward carrying on Lewis’ legacy.
“Thank you, John Lewis for being a warrior for justice,” Legend wrote. “Thank you for loving us so much that you devoted and risked your life to bring us closer to freedom.”
Rosanne Cash said America “barely deserved” a person like Lewis and called his death “wrenching.
“‘Where is our soul?,’ he shouted on the House floor,” Cash wrote on Twitter, recalling Lewis’ 2016 sit-in for gun-control legislation.
“We have to keep asking that question, in his honor. Travel safely, sir.”
Dom Flemons wrote a lengthy remembrance of Lewis on Facebook and vowed to carry a bit of his legacy on with him for the rest of his life.
“I will continue to sing the songs that he learned, sang, taught, preached, distributed and shared with an untold number of Americans,” Flemons wrote.
“I will continue to preach the words of non-violence, judging people by the strength of their character and not by the color of their skin. And I will sing: ‘We’ve been buked and we’ve been scorned, we’ve been talked about sure as your born, but we we’ll never turn back until we are free, until we have equality.’”
7/18/20