US marks one yr since loss of life of civil rights icon John Lewis | Elections Information

In honor of longtime Congressman, President Joe Biden is again calling on Congress to pass a law defending the right to vote.

US President Joe Biden once again calls on Congress to pass a law to protect the right to vote in honor of civil rights activist and longtime Congressman John Lewis, who died a year ago.

In a statement on Saturday marking the first anniversary of Lewis’ death, Biden said it was crucial “to carry on the cause for which John was willing to give his life: the protection of sacred suffrage”.

“We have not seen such relentless attacks on the voting rights and integrity of our elections since the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s,” Biden said, citing false claims made by his predecessor Donald Trump that the 2020 election was widespread Unity has been tarnished example.

He also slammed “new waves of voter repression,” a reference to a number of state laws aimed at restricting access to voting that critics say would disproportionately harm black and other colored voters.

Controversial laws are debated in states like Texas and implemented by Republican lawmakers in other states, including Arizona, Florida, and Georgia.

The Brennan Center for Justice at New York University, which oversees voter suppression laws in the United States, says on its website that as of June 21, 17 states have passed 28 new laws restricting access to voting.

“I again urge Congress to pass the For the People Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act so I can enforce them,” Biden said in his statement, referring to proposed laws that would strengthen voting rights , but stalled in Congress.

Democrats are pushing for the For the People Act, a comprehensive federal ballot and election law, but Senate Republicans have come together to block it as it violates the state’s ability to conduct elections. Most Republicans have also dismissed the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, which would restore parts of the voting rights law that were weakened by the Supreme Court.

Lewis, who served in Congress for decades, was a protégé of Martin Luther King Jr and fought for civil and human rights until the end of his life.

He was perhaps best known for leading about 600 protesters in the 1965 Bloody Sunday march over Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama. State troopers beat Lewis and other activists who marched for the right to vote that day.

US Vice President Kamala Harris described Lewis as “an American hero”.

“Congressman Lewis has fought tirelessly for the highest ideals of our country: freedom and justice for all and for the right of every American to be heard at the ballot box,” Harris said in a statement on Saturday.

Mourners see a makeshift memorial in Atlanta last year to the late Congressman John Lewis, a civil rights pioneer and longtime member of the US House of Representatives [Dustin Chambers/Reuters]

As a college student at American Baptist College and then Fisk University, Lewis also helped segregate Nashville and campaigned for racial justice across the south.

Nashville marked the anniversary of his death with Friday and Saturday events that saw much of Fifth Avenue renamed Rep. John Lewis Way.

Among the facilities that line the street is the downtown Woolworth Building, where Lewis and other black civil rights activists sat defiantly at the segregated lunch counter that would not serve them in 1960. Hundreds marched down the street before arriving at the Ryman Auditorium for a celebration.

Meanwhile, senior U.S. lawmakers and members of Lewis’ family gathered in San Diego on Saturday to christen a naval ship named after Lewis.

“This ship will be a beacon for the world and a reminder of the perseverance and courage of John Lewis to all who see it,” said Democratic House spokeswoman Nancy Pelosi at the christening of the USNS John Lewis.

Lewis’ nephew, Marcus Tyner, said the family were grateful for the honor, but said “what my uncle would like most” would be if Congress passed the voting bill named after him.