Barack Obama on the death of John Lewis: “We will miss him very much”

“I first met John when I was in law school, and I told him he was one of my heroes. Years later, when I was elected to the United States as a senator, I told him he was on his shoulders,” Obama wrote in a statement after Lewis’s death. “When I was elected president of the United States, I hugged him to the inauguration post before he was sworn in and told him he was only there because of the sacrifices he made.”

Lewis, a Democrat who served as the United States Representative in Georgia’s 5th Congressional District for more than three decades, died Friday at age 80 after a six-month battle with cancer.

Lewis had described attending Obama’s inauguration in 2009 as an “out-of-body” experience.

“When we were organizing voter registration campaigns, going to Freedom Rides, sitting, coming here to Washington for the first time, arrested, going to jail, beaten, I never thought, I never dreamed, the possibility that an African American would one day be elected president of the United States, “he said at the time.

“He loved this country so much that he risked his life and blood to fulfill his promise. And over the decades, he not only gave himself up for the cause of freedom and justice, but inspired the generations that followed. to try to live up to their example, “Obama wrote in his statement Saturday.

Obama said that “in many ways, John’s life was exceptional” and given his “enormous impact on the history of this country, what always surprised those who knew John was his gentleness and humility.”

“He believed that in all of us there was the capacity for great courage, a desire to do the right thing, a willingness to love all people and extend their rights granted by God to dignity and respect. And it is because he saw what best of all of us that he will continue, even in his passing, to serve as a beacon on that long journey to a more perfect union, “he wrote.

The 44th president said “it is appropriate” that the last time he and Lewis shared a public forum was a virtual town hall with activists who helped lead the protests following the death of George Floyd.

The two men spoke privately afterward, Obama said, and Lewis told him that “he could not have been more proud of his efforts: of a new generation defending freedom and equality, a new generation with the intention of voting and protect the right to vote, a new generation running for political office. “

“Not many of us live to see our own legacy unfold in such a significant and remarkable way. John Lewis did,” wrote Obama. “And thanks to him, we now all have our marching orders: to continue to believe in the possibility of remaking this country that we love until it fulfills its promise.”