July 18, 2020
DREDF mourns the passing of civil rights leader Congressman John Lewis. We honor Mr. Lewis’ lifelong commitment to fighting injustice and working towards his vision for a Beloved Community.
In 2015, DREDF established the John R. Lewis Intersectionality Award. Mr. Lewis was an icon of the civil rights movement who continually recognized that the interconnected nature of identities such as disability, race, ethnicity, class, sexuality, and gender create overlapping and interdependent systems of discrimination or disadvantage. In speaking up against an amendment to the ADA that proposed to bar people with HIV from working in the food industry and that threatened to gut the ADA, Mr. Lewis stated “Listen to the health experts, not the hate experts, not the fear experts. Discrimination was wrong in 1964, discrimination was wrong in 1965, discrimination was wrong in 1968 and discrimination is wrong now.”
Mr. Lewis always understood that disability rights are civil rights. In 2015, he strongly opposed H.R. 620, which would have weakened the civil rights of people with disabilities, making it harder for us to use the same restrooms, shop at the same stores, and eat at the same restaurants as our non-disabled friends, family members, and peers. His remarks echoed what he always knew to be true:
“Many of my colleagues may not remember when the Civil Rights Act became the law of the land in 1964, but I remember. I was there. As a matter of fact, I gave a little blood during the sit-ins, during the Freedom Rides. I remember the struggle, the fight, and the sacrifice of so many to protect the dignity and the worth of every human being. I was here serving in this very Chamber when the Americans with Disabilities Act became the law of the land 26 years later. Yet today, it is unbelievable; it is unreal; we are considering a bill that turns the clock backwards and strikes a devastating blow in the fight for civil rights. Mr. Chair, I want to make it crystal clear for the record: there is no place in our country for the burden to be placed on those whose rights have and will be violated time and time again. Mr. Chair, this bill is wrong, it is mean-spirited, and it is a shame and a disgrace that we would bring it to the floor. I urge each and every one of my colleagues to oppose this bill.”
Thank you, Congressman Lewis. Rest in Power.