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[footsteps]
[soft indistinct chatter]
I feel lucky and blessed
that I'm serving in the Congress...
But there are forces today
trying to take us back
to another time
and another dark period.
We've come so far, we've made so much progress,
but as a nation and as a people,
we're not quite there yet.
We have miles to go.
♪ [Malverde's "Marcha"] ♪
We do not want our freedom gradually,
but we want to be free now.
♪ Marcha, marcha ♪
We're marching today to dramatize to the world
hundreds and thousands of Negro citizens
denied the right to vote.
For too long, other people been deciding for us.
We must have some control
over our own political destiny.
No police department
will keep us from marching up and down the streets
of the city of Atlanta.
♪ Marcha ♪
Too many people struggled,
suffered, and died to make it possible
for every American to exercise their right to vote.
John Lewis: I have on my marching shoes.
- Man: That's right! - I'm fired up!
- Man: Fired up! - I'm ready to march!
Man: Let's do it!
♪ Marcha ♪
Lewis: Speak up, speak out,
and get in what I call good trouble,
necessary trouble.
Do what is right.
♪ Marcha ♪
[car horn beeps]
[indistinct chatter]
Elijah Cummings: When I was a young boy,
I remember Dr. King,
and I remember this young guy
who was marching with him,
and it was this guy that didn't look much older than me.
I said, "How did he get involved?"
Happy New Year to you, brother.
- Congratulations. - How you doing?
[muffled speech]
Anthony Johnson: He was always different
than every member of Congress.
Everybody in Congress knew what he had done.
He was John Lewis.
- How you doing? - It's good to see you.
- Good to see you. - Good to see you.
- Good to see you, sir. - How you doing, sir?
- Hey, there, how are you? - Very good.
Hillary Clinton: His voice and his example
are probably needed now
as much as they've ever been since he was a young man.
[indistinct chatter]
When I first came here, I ran across the road.
[chuckles]
Now we're a little older and a little wiser.
A little older and wiser.
We don't need to run for everything.
Ayanna Pressley: We are still in the Civil Rights Movement
because we are still in a civil rights struggle,
and so Congressman Lewis gave us the blueprint,
and the blueprint is to organize,
it is to mobilize, and it is to legislate.
Cummings: And the reason why he's effective as a leader
is because he's lived it.
[poignant music]
Lewis: For many, many years
in Dallas County,
Selma, Alabama,
black men and women
had tried to become registered voters.
People stood in a unmovable line.
They would fail the so-called literacy tests.
On one occasion, a person was asked
to count the number of bubbles in a bar of soap.
And we must make it clear that we know
when we are denied the right to vote.
Martin Luther King Jr.: Today represents
a marvelous determination
of this drive to register Negro voters
in massive numbers in the state of Alabama.
You got 85 here... there's more. 86?
That's mighty good, mighty good.
You did not follow my orders.
You disobeyed the parade order.
Each and everyone in this line
is under arrest for parading without a permit.
King: We will continue, definitely,
to get large numbers of people registered
and to point out the injustices
which we continue to face as we seek to register.
[crowd clamoring]
Lewis: People had been beaten, arrested, and jailed.
A young man by the name of Jimmie Lee Jackson
had been murdered.
We made a decision to march
in an orderly, peaceful, nonviolent fashion
from Selma to Montgomery.
Lewis: We're marching today to dramatize to the nation
and dramatize to the world
that hundreds and thousands of Negro citizens of Alabama,
but particularly here in the Black Belt area,
denied the right to vote,
and we intend to march to Montgomery
to present said grievance to Governor George C. Wallace.
Lewis: As we approached a bridge,
we saw a sea of blue,
Alabama state troopers.
[militaristic music]
Man: [on speaker] It'll be detrimental to your safety
to continue this march,
and I'm saying that this is an unlawful assembly.
You are ordered to disperse.
Go home, or go to your church.
This march will not continue.
[dramatic music]
We said, "Major, may I have a word?"
He said there would be no word.
Man: Troopers here, advance toward the group.
See that they turn around and disperse.
[music continues]
[people screaming]
[screaming continues]
Lewis: I was hit in the head.
My knees went from under me.
I thought I was going to die on the bridge.
[somber music]
Female anchor 1: Amid record-breaking early voting
this midterm season,
concerns of voter suppression are at the center
of some of the country's most contested races.
Male anchor: Things like strict voter ID laws,
getting rid of same-day registration,
cutting back on early voting, purging the voting rolls,
eliminating the number of polling places.
Female anchor 2: When we begin to look
at these voter suppression laws,
overwhelmingly African-American, Latino,
Asian-American, young, and poor,
that's the group that is targeted.
[dog barking in distance]
[paper rustling]
Well, it's a very difficult time
that we're going through in America.
My greatest fear is that one day we may wake up
and our democracy is gone.
We cannot afford to let that happen.
As long as I have breath in my body,
I will do what I can.
[people cheering]
[cheering continues]
- Can I touch him? - Yes, yes.
- Congressman, this... - Can I touch him?
Yes, yes, you can touch me.
Oh, please, someone take my picture.
Lewis: How are you doing? Good to see you today.
My name is Wanda [indistinct].
You are... you are one of my biggest,
biggest, biggest heroes.
- Oh, thank you. - You have done so much.
- Well, I just try to help out. - Well, we need you now.
- Yes, ma'am. - We need you now.
Woman: Thank you, Mr. Lewis, for everything.
Lewis: Thank you.
- Wonderful. - Thank you. Great to see you.
Hi, Congressman.
Hi, handsome.
Colin Allred: I became a voting rights attorney
because of John Lewis.
- Woman 1: Yeah. - Woman 2: Yes.
He walked across a bridge
so that someday I could run for office.
- Woman 1: Yeah. - Woman 2: Yes.
This man was beaten,
was bloodied,
so people in this country
would have the right to vote.
We've got to make sure that we honor the sacrifice
of everyone who has preceded us here.
[cheers and applause]
Those civil rights marchers...
[cheers and applause]
Willing to risk their lives,
and could we be any more blessed
than to have John Lewis here with us,
in Dallas, Texas?
[cheers and applause]
I would see those signs that said white men,
colored men, white women, colored women,
white waiting, colored waiting,
and I would ask my mother, my father,
my grandparents, and my great-grandparents why.
They would say, "Boy, that's the way it is.
Don't get in the way.
Don't get in trouble."
But in 1955, 15 years old,
the action of Rosa Parks,
the words and leadership of Dr. King,
inspired me to get in trouble,
what I call good trouble, necessary trouble.
[cheers and applause]
It's... it's time for all good people in this state,
here in Dallas, to get in trouble.
[cheers and applause]
You know, I got arrested a few times during the '60s.
[laughter, cheers]
Forty times.
- Woman 1: Oh. - Woman 2: Oh.
- Woman 3: Yeah! - Woman 4: Whoo!
And since I've been in Congress,
another five times.
[cheers and applause]
And I'm probably gonna get arrested again for something.
[laughter, cheers]
But my philosophy is very simple.
When you see something that is not right,
not fair,
not just, say something!
Do something!
Get in trouble, good trouble, necessary trouble.
[cheers and applause]
We have to save our country,
save our democracy.
I wish you well. Thank you very much.
[cheers and applause]
Thank you for everything you do for our country.
- We love you. We love you. - Thank you. Thank you.
[brassy music]
You're such a model for us.
Oh, my God.
Keep moving forward, please, sir.
Keep moving forward, please.
Woman: Thank you.
Man: Thank you for giving us the right to vote.
[people cheering]
Lewis: We must go to the polls
and vote like we never, ever voted before.
[cheers and applause]
How you been, my dear?
Lizzie Fletcher,
we need her now more than ever before.
See that this young man is elected
to the House of Representatives.
[cheers and applause]
Thank you.
Lewis: It is in our hand to make Stacey Abrams
the next governor of the state of Georgia.
[cheers and applause]
Go to the polls.
Let's do it. Let's do it. Let's vote.
Run to the polls. Let's vote.
I grew up in rural Alabama,
outside of a little place called Troy.
My father was a sharecropper, a tenant farmer,
but in 1944,
when I was four years old, my father had saved $300,
and a man sold him 110 acres of land.
We still own this land today.
[cheers and applause]
We used to raise a lot of chickens
where I grew up on this farm.
I wanted to preach so much
that we would gather all of our chickens
together in the chicken yard,
and my brothers and sisters and cousins
would line up outside of the chicken yard,
and I would start preaching to those chickens.
[laughter]
They would bow their heads.
They would shake their heads.
They never quite said amen,
but they tended to listen to me much better
than some of my colleagues on the other side
listen to me today in the Congress.
[cheers and applause]
Sometimes I'd be out there working in the field,
picking cotton.
My mother would say, "Boy, you need to catch up,"
and I would say, "This is hard work,"
and she would say, "Hard work never killed anybody."
I said, "Well, it's about to kill me."
[laughter]
And I was determined as a little child
to get out of that field,
out of the hot sun.
Woman: Yes!
- I can identify with you. - Yes.
- Picking cotton. - Yes.
- I was born in '49. - Really?
Where did you grow up?
I grew up here in Fulshear picking cotton.
Okay. Okay.
But I had the experience.
I know what you talking about.
We would pick on our own place,
- then go someplace else. - Yup.
But we would get up early in the morning
while the dew was still on it,
so it would be heavy, would weigh more.
- Exactly, exactly. - Right, right.
And I hate picking up cotton.
Yeah, I did... I did too. I hated it.
But thank God I was the baby.
- I didn't... - She didn't do it.
No. Oh?
But she rode... she rode on the back of my sack.
- [laughter] - Exactly.
So, you just pulled her through the field.
- Yes, you right, you right. - God bless you.
God bless you.
Those three ladies are sisters.
Oh, wow.
And they picked cotton. The youngest one didn't.
The older one said she rode on the back of her sack.
They had these long sacks, and she was a little baby.
She pulled her through the cotton field.
- [laughing] - Where they from?
- They're from Texas. - Oh, Texas.
- Uh- huh. - They pick cotton in Texas?
- They have cotton in Texas. - Oh.
Texas produced a lot of cotton.
- Well, I didn't know. - Well, I know.
He's from Boston.
He wouldn't know. He doesn't understand.
- Exactly, he wouldn't know. - I'm from Boston.
He wouldn't know anything.
He probably wouldn't recognize a boll of cotton.
- [laughter] - A what?
You wouldn't recognize a boll of cotton.
No.
Michael Collins: I've worked for him 20 years.
He's been a father, a grandfather.
There was a moment where I lost both of my parents
during the time working for the Congressman,
and um...
it was a signing of the Voting Rights Act,
a reauthorization,
and it happened on the same day as my father's funeral.
And... Congressman Lewis
was at my father's funeral.
[upbeat music]
[choir vocalizing]
Watch your step right here.
Lewis: My father
and mother,
my oldest brother.
This is my mother's mother.
- Henry Lewis: And father. - And... and father.
Right.
You going to see the girls.
So, the horse and the cow is good friends, huh?
Yup.
Lewis: How many cows in there?
I think about 14.
- Oh, my lord. - Mm-hmm.
[rooster crows]
If I say, "Chick, chick," they will come.
Rosa Lewis-Tyner: They might.
Hi, girls.
[chickens clucking]
Come, chick. Come.
Come on.
Chick, chick, chick.
Come on, biddy, biddy.
- They're beautiful hens. - Rosa: Mm-hmm.
See, when I was growing up,
they would let me pet them and do everything.
See?
Come here, chick, chick.
Samuel Lewis: John was always... I guess I would say different,
because he was always determined to be good,
try to do something good.
♪ Said O Lord, sure is tired ♪
♪ Gotta work so hard ♪
♪ Never satisfied, y'all ♪
♪ Sunrise till sun goes down ♪
Samuel: I remember back when we had to break the land
before we plant the cotton.
We would enroll in school
that first day,
and it might be three weeks before we'd go back to school
'cause we gotta get the ground ready.
♪ And die here in these rows, y'all ♪
♪ O Lord, pick a bale a day ♪
♪ Gonna leave this here if I have my say ♪
Rosa: It was back-bending. Let me put it that way.
Everybody knew John wasn't gonna work.
Lewis: My oldest brother, Adolph, would tell Mama,
"I'll do his share."
Rosa: So, if he went on to school,
Adolph was gonna work for two or three men anyway,
so he told Dad, "Let him go. Let him go."
Ethel Lewis-Tyner: He was always preaching,
not only to the chickens.
He would preach to us.
In high school,
he wore a tie,
dressed up.
And carried his Bible.
And carried his Bible, uh-huh.
- To school every day. - Mm-hmm.
Lewis: I wanted to get an education,
and some days I would get up early in the morning
and get dressed for school,
get my book bag,
and I would hide under the front porch
and wait for the school bus to come up the hill.
And the moment the bus came up the hill,
I would run out
and get on that bus
and slip off to school.
I had wonderful teachers,
wonderful teachers.
One teacher would tell me over and over again,
"Read, my child, read."
And I tried to read everything.
Henry: You know, I could tell that he felt
that the world was bigger
than what we were doing.
He had...
bigger things in mind.
[melancholy music]
Lewis: You know, I wrote Dr. King a letter
when I was 17 years old.
I wanted to attend Troy University.
Submitted my application, my high school transcript.
I never heard a word from the school,
so I wrote a letter to Dr. King.
I didn't tell my mother or my father.
I told one of my teachers.
Dr. King wrote me back
and sent me a round-trip Greyhound bus ticket
and invited me to come to Montgomery.
And I saw Martin Luther King, Jr.
and Ralph Abernathy standing behind a desk.
I was so scared.
My heart started beating so fast, and Dr. King said,
- "Are you the boy from Troy?" - [woman laughs]
"Are you John Lewis?"
and I said, "Dr. King, I am John Robert Lewis."
I gave my whole name, but he still called me
"the boy from Troy" each time he would see me.
- Woman: Wow. - He would say,
"How's the boy from Troy doing?"
Lewis: We thought about suing
the university system of Alabama.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
and his organization were prepared to support it.
I had a discussion with my mother and my father.
My father was very, very supportive of the idea.
My mother was so afraid
that we could lose the land,
our home could be bombed or burned,
so I continued to study in Nashville.
It was there in Nashville
that I met Jim Lawson
and got involved in studying the philosophy
and the discipline of nonviolence.
[choir vocalizing]
Lewis: I started attending these nonviolent workshops.
Bernard Lafayette was my roommate,
and I kept saying to Bernard, "You have to come.
You have to get involved."
Bernard Lafayette, Jr: I was so busy with my courses.
I said, "Listen, I don't have time for that."
But he kept badgering me,
and lo and behold,
I got hooked.
Lewis: Jim Lawson taught us to never engage in violence,
but we had a right to protest for what was right.
It inspired me. It changed my life.
Nonviolence as conceived by...
the Montgomery bus boycott
is not a self-defense position.
It is a militant position.
How is it that I can transform
the environment in which I live?
The Montgomery bus boycott
did a radical analysis of the racism
as a tool of helping people to wake up.
King: When you sit down on the bus
and you sit down in the front
or you sit down by a white person,
you have a duty to sit there
because as long as you sit in the back,
you have a false sense of inferiority,
and so long as you let the white man sit in the front
and push you back there,
he has a false sense of superiority.
[crowd murmuring agreement]
James M. Lawson, Jr.: We had robust discussion
about these ideas.
Six months of gatherings
produced the consensus
we're going to desegregate downtown Nashville.
I hated the system telling people
that you cannot be seated at a lunch counter,
you cannot go into a restaurant
simply because of the color of your skin,
and I wanted to be part of an effort
to help change it,
and I was prepared
to put my body on the line.
There was something deep down within me,
moving me,
that I could no longer be satisfied
or go along with an evil system.
Lafeyette: Look at this letter I got from my mother.
"What are you fighting for?
Remember who are helping you in school.
It is the white people.
What about the people of your race?
What are they giving you?"
I mean, I know she... she cares for me, you know?
I mean, I know she loves me, but...
I mean, she just don't understand.
My mom... You could hear my mother
while she washing dishes.
She's praying, praying out loud.
Well, the whole time he was in the movement, you know,
it was... it was frightening,
especially for...
you know, a younger brother that's...
you know, 12 years younger, and knowing the danger
and...
knowing what could happen at any time.
Now, tonight we have a most important business
to try to accomplish,
and that is to try to have
one major role-playing experience
to set the stage
for an actual demonstration,
for an actual sit-in.
A bunch of niggers.
Well, look at the eight-balls
all lined up with a white ball in the side pocket.
Man: Hey, nigger lover,
what are you doing here?
Why don't you go around in the alley where you belong?
I've got some licorice candy here.
You like to have some of that?
Let's get these niggers out of here.
[people shouting]
Okay.
[laughter]
That was pretty good.
How about that?
Thank you.
[scattered laughter]
So, what questions does this raise to us
as to how we might act nonviolently?
What are the basic problems here
so far as this whole idea that we're working on?
What is it that I be would able to do
in the framework of passive resistance to protect myself?
As creatively as possible, seek to be loving
and forgiving in any situation.
It may have much more meaning to the attacker if,
as he strikes you on the cheek, you're looking him in the eyes.
[rustling]
Dawn, I'm seeing footage I've never seen before.
Man: We organized in Nashville
with John Lewis, Diane Nash, and the others.
Lewis: It was on February the 13th, and...
we had the very first sit-in here in Nashville,
and I took my seat at the counter.
I asked a waitress for a hamburger and a Coke.
I said, "I'm sorry, our management
does not allow us to serve niggers in here."
Lewis: Altogether, it was a moving feeling within me
that I was sitting there demanding a God-given right,
and in spite of all of this,
I had to keep loving the people who denied me service.
They come in, and they sit down,
and we're not used to them sitting down beside us
'cause I wasn't raised with 'em,
I never have lived with 'em, and I'm not gonna start now.
Lafayette: First, we had to change,
and since we were no longer going to accept
segregated lunch counters,
it was over with.
We protested because we had changed.
[crowd clamoring]
We continued to give them the opportunity to also change
'cause we believed that it was possible.
News anchor: On February 27th,
80 Nashville students were arrested out of over 300
who were participating in the sit-ins that day.
As the students were confronted with the choice
of paying a $50 fine
or spending over a month in jail,
each of them chose jail.
Their attitude reflected
the words of Reverend Martin Luther King,
"We will meet the capacity to inflict suffering
with the capacity to endure suffering.
Do what you will to us,
but we will wear you down."
Diane Nash: We felt unity.
We felt power.
We felt strength.
I don't think any of us will ever forget it.
News anchor: Nashville became the first major city
in the South to permit whites and Negros
to eat together in public places.
Lewis: You come to that point,
this feeling that if you don't do it, if you don't...
do everything you can to change things,
they will remain the same,
and you only pass this way once,
and you have to give it all you have.
The radicalism of the Civil Rights Movement,
the social radicalism,
the civic radicalism,
all of that inspires a lot of the conclusions
and the beliefs that I have today,
and I know that if John Lewis as a 19, 20-year-old,
wasn't doing what he did, I would not be here today.
[militaristic music]
Female reporter 1: Growing allegations
of voter suppression are emerging
in the hard-fought race for governor in Georgia.
Female reporter 2: Republican candidate
and current Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp
is accused of blocking about 53,000 voter applications,
most of which are from minorities.
Female reporter 3: Democrats say
he has dropped more than a million voters
from the rolls since 2012,
shuttered polling places in African-American communities.
Male reporter: Up until now, they only had three machines,
and that forced some folks here
to wait in line for hours.
Female reporter 4: Those votes could be crucial
for Democratic candidate Stacey Abrams,
who's looking to be the first female black governor
in U.S. history.
There are forces in America today
want to take us back, but we're not going back.
We've come too far. We are going forward!
[cheers and applause]
These are our votes,
this is our choice,
and everyone who is legally eligible to vote
in the state of Georgia
should take advantage of that opportunity.
Go to the polls on Tuesday and cast your ballot,
because your voice matters; if it didn't matter,
they wouldn't be trying to shut you up.
- Woman 1: Yup. - Woman 2: Yeah.
Woman 3: That's right, that's right.
We're going to meet rabid voter suppression
with massive voter mobilization.
[cheers and applause]
The three civil rights workers
that were murdered in Mississippi
for trying to help people get registered to vote
are looking down on us.
[cheers and applause]
One of the great moments in my life
was sharing with John Lewis the voter registration card
of his great-great-grandfather from the summer of 1867.
"As soon as he was freed, as soon as the law allowed
because of the Reconstruction Act,
your great-great-grandfather defied the odds
and went down to the courthouse to register to vote,"
and I said,
"And by my calculation,
no one in your family between him,
your great-great-grandfather, and you,
because of what you did at Pettus Bridge
and the Voting Rights Act,
no one in your family line voted
between him and you,"
and he looked at me,
and Dawn, his head...
hit the scrapbook.
He just cried
and cried and cried,
and then he looked up and said,
"I guess it's in my DNA."
Good morning. Good morning. How you doing?
Woman: Good morning.
Good to see you.
- Nice to see you. - Ay!
Yes. Yes.
- [laughter] - Aww.
[cheers and applause]
[solemn music]
Lewis: Hi. How you doing, my dear?
- Woman: Are you voting today? - Lewis: I'm voting today.
Put your date of birth on that line.
Lewis: Okay.
It's a good sign, all these folks here.
Man: Mm-hmm.
You are all set to vote.
Lewis: Thank you.
I'm happy to see so many people participating,
and I truly believe we gonna take back
the House of Representatives.
Woman: Are you concerned about voter suppression?
Well, I am concerned,
because there's been a deliberate,
systematic effort
in this state to suppress the vote.
Male reporter: Control of Congress
is at stake as voters
make a critical decision on what sort of Senate
and House the president will deal with
for the second half of his first term.
[man on TV speaking indistinctly]
Male reporter: This early in the evening,
too early to call.
- You good? - Okay.
Michael, you know where we going?
We're gonna make it work.
Lewis: It's not good to go through the kitchen.
- Hey. - Man: Hey.
Fine. How you doing? Good to see you.
How do you like that? Boom.
- Thank you. - [laughing]
And so tonight is going to continue to be a long night.
Yeah.
Collins: We're basically just keeping the crowd
energized through the night, that's all.
Anything else on Texas?
Man: Yeah.
Seventy-six percent, they're neck and neck.
[cheers and applause]
Lewis: Hello, everybody.
[cheers and applause]
I say to you tonight,
the vote is still the most powerful nonviolent instrument
or tool we have in a democratic society,
and we must use it.
- Woman: Yes! - [people cheering]
- Are you with me? - All: Yes!
Are you with Stacey?
- All: Yes! - Let me hear you.
All: Yes!
Good. Thank you so much.
I think it'll be a long evening.
Yeah, yeah.
Joss, do we have anything out of Texas in the House?
Joss: Nothing out of Texas.
So, we picked up 15 already?
Uh-huh.
[indistinct chatter]
Come on, Beto.
Lewis: Come on, Beto.
Come on, baby.
Oh, God, I hope we can get rid of this guy here.
This is the guy... no, King.
- Oh, King. - King, King.
A total racist.
He is so bad.
Man on TV: Just coming across the wire...
Oh, yeah!
Yes, Lizzie!
Oh, this is a good win.
Hi, Lizzie?
Congratulations.
I'm... I'm so proud of you.
Man on TV 1: Senator Ted Cruz, the incumbent Republican,
will beat the Democrat, Beto O'Rourke.
Man on TV 2: Brian Kemp's campaign declaring victory
in Georgia's gubernatorial race.
Woman on TV: But Stacey Abrams' team
is insisting this is not over yet.
I'm so sorry about...
about...
well, Stacey and this kid...
this kid.
They called it?
That look good.
[upbeat music]
House Democratic control, yeah!
[people cheering]
[indistinct] John Lewis!
Whoo! Here with John Lewis!
[cheering continues]
Oh, what'll it be like to get majority again?
Yes! Whoo!
- That's the best news. - In the majority again.
- Whoo! - Once again.
Back, back, back, back.
We can't mess it up this time.
Male reporter 1: Americans and President Trump
are waking up to a new reality here in Washington.
One party rule is over.
Male reporter 2: The first Muslim women,
first Native American women,
the first black woman from Massachusetts,
first Latina from Texas... it may not be a blue wave.
It's a rainbow wave.
Female reporter: Democrats picked up
more than two dozen House seats
to take control
for the first time in eight years.
It is a happy moment.
I just feel grateful,
and I'm ready to take that oath.
- Good to see you. - Tremendous day.
- Good to see you. - Good to see you, always.
Good to see you. You're looking good, brother.
- Thank you, as you. - Thank you.
[indistinct chatter]
It is my honor to introduce to you all
the history-making 55 members
of the Congressional Black Caucus
of the 116th Congress.
Under leadership of Marcia Fudge,
of Terri Sewell, John Lewis,
we will be introducing
and passing the Voting Rights Act in this Congress.
[cheers and applause]
Ilhan Omar: I remember him saying,
"Love your country like you love yourself,"
and that spoke to me
because my grandfather always talked about the love
that he had for this democracy that was unlike anyone else
because it was the kind of love that only a person
who experienced the absence of it could have,
and this was a country
that had a hard time loving
people like John Lewis.
But he loved it and was willing to,
as he said, get a concussion
so that the conscience of the country was awakened.
There are great bruises
that we take as catalysts for change,
and...
the fight we embark on on behalf of the people
isn't often only a fight that is brought to us.
It's a fight that we willingly engage in.
- Woman: I... - John Lewis.
Woman: Do solemnly swear...
All: Do solemnly swear...
Woman: That I will support and defend...
All: That I will support and defend...
The Constitution of the United States...
All: The Constitution of the United States...
Against all enemies...
All: Against all enemies...
Foreign and domestic.
All: Foreign and domestic.
Thank you for all that you have done
to lay the pathway for 55 members.
You need to know that.
- Thank you. - All right?
- Thank you. - That goes with Selma.
That doesn't go when you first got elected.
- Thank you. - All right.
James E. Clyburn: John and I
took different paths after college.
I got married.
John went out,
and they were organizing the Freedom Rides at that time.
He's probably the most courageous person I ever met.
Lewis: I heard that the Congress of Racial Equality
would be sponsoring the Freedom Rides,
and I applied to be accepted as a Freedom Rider.
[foreboding music]
Man: Even though the law of the land says
that a passenger can ride interstate
and participate in a lunchroom
or waiting rooms and bathrooms,
everyone cannot,
particularly the Negro.
Lafeyette: Even though you had a Supreme Court decision made,
the Freedom Rides was an effort
to test the facilities.
Man: Within a matter of weeks, Freedom Riders
are boarding buses all over the South.
The riders are harassed and jailed.
Sometimes they're beaten by angry crowds of whites
while Southern sheriffs look the other way.
Lewis: The night of May 3rd,
we went to a Chinese restaurant
in Downtown Washington to get something to eat.
Growing up in rural Alabama,
I never had Chinese food before,
but someone that evening said, "You should eat well
because this may be like the Last Supper."
Clyburn: They were coming through South Carolina,
so I said to my wife
that I thought that I would meet the bus in Rock Hill.
She reminded me
that I was no longer a college student.
At that time, we were expecting our first child,
so I did not meet the bus.
The tall gentleman with the suit on,
that's Albert Bigelow.
He was my seatmate
from Washington, D.C.
to Rock Hill, South Carolina.
We arrived in Rock Hill.
We were attacked by members of the Klan,
and we were beaten
and left lying in a pool of blood.
Clyburn: I often wondered
what might have happened if I was there,
because I was never
as nonviolent as John is.
I don't think I could have taken
what he took.
Lewis: I lost all sense of fear, really.
When you lose the sense of fear, you're free.
Too many people lived in fear during those days.
We cannot continue to accept these conditions of oppression,
for this is not a struggle for ourselves alone.
It is a struggle to save the soul of America.
Man: The best thing for King
and all of the so-called Freedom Riders
is to return to their homes
and mind their own business.
Lewis: We decided to have a mass meeting,
and thousands of people showed up.
Now, we've had an ugly mob outside.
They burned some automobiles.
Let us be calm.
We are together.
We are not afraid.
Lewis: Dr. King and the Reverend Ralph Abernathy
went down into the basement of the church.
They spoke to the attorney general,
and he told President Kennedy
there was a serious problem here at this church.
Woman: They brought in National Guards
to quell the riots.
The city is now under martial law,
and troops are on their way into Montgomery.
[cheers and applause]
Lewis: But it led to the desegregation
of public transportation all across the South.
[choir vocalizing]
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez: So much of John Lewis's activism
was to highlight the inaction of the federal government.
Despite all of this violence hap... targeted violence
happening in the South,
the federal government had its hands tied.
They were wringing their hands.
They were saying,
"Wait another day.
Compromise. Slow down.
Don't get too hasty."
And it was that... that attitude
and that energy of youth, of saying,
"Why do we have to wait our entire lives
to be seen as equal in the eyes of the law?"
[indistinct chatter]
Nancy Pelosi: One of my great experiences
in the Congress, which I treasure,
was working under John Lewis's leadership
and other members of the Congressional Black Caucus.
We put together the Voting Rights Act
that was passed in 2006.
In a bipartisan way,
we walked House and Senate leadership
down the steps of the capitol to salute the fact
that we have written a new Voting Rights Act.
The right of ordinary men and women
to determine their own political future
lies at the heart of the American experiment.
By re-authorizing this act,
Congress has reaffirmed
its belief
that all men are created equal.
I view the Voting Rights Act of 1965
and its subsequent amendments
as the most important civil rights bill
that was passed during the '50s and '60s
because it effectively enfranchised minority voters,
and not just African-Americans in the South
but other minority voters of different ethnic backgrounds
in the North,
and I think that the cooperation,
which has been outstanding between John Lewis and myself,
ends up being an example
that we can get important things done
by being bipartisan,
whereas if we were not bipartisan,
they never would have happened.
Pelosi: President George Bush
signed the legislation
and came to Selma for the 50th anniversary
and spoke about how proud he was
to have signed that Voting Rights Act,
so I think that the Voting Rights Act
and John Lewis cannot be separated.
[pensive music]
Female anchor: It's considered one
of the most important pieces
of civil rights legislation ever passed,
but by five to four, the U.S. Supreme Court today
took the teeth out of a law enacted nearly 50 years ago.
Male anchor: President Lyndon Johnson
signed the landmark law in 1965,
and ever since, the Voting Rights Act
has policed voting discrimination.
Lewis: Today the Supreme Court
stuck a dagger in the heart
of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
They're saying, in effect,
that history cannot repeat itself,
but I say come
and walk in my shoes.
Eric Holder: Shelby County was suing
the Justice Department,
and when you sue the Justice Department,
you name the attorney general as the defendant in the case,
and so that's why my name,
unfortunately, appears on that case.
The Shelby County decision is one of the most disastrous
Supreme Court decisions of all time.
It gutted the pre-clearance authority
that the United States Department of Justice had,
which in essence gave the Justice Department
the ability to challenge a change
that was gonna be made in a covered locality
with regard to voting procedures,
so that way, the Justice Department
could stop something from happening
as opposed to filing a lawsuit
after an election had already occurred.
Since Shelby County, about 27 states
have actually passed unnecessary photo ID laws,
purged voter rolls, and over 1,000 polling places
around the country have been closed.
Polling places have been moved without any notice,
and a whole variety of things
to make it more difficult for people
to get access to the ballot
go very contrary to the very work that...
Eric Holder: John Lewis has stood for all his life.
One federal judge said about what North Carolina did,
is they acted with surgical-like precision
to disenfranchise African-Americans.
Um, that's hard for me to watch that happen,
and John Lewis beat back numerous attempts
over his career of people
trying to alter voting rights in a way
that would discriminate against not just African-Americans,
but low-income Americans and so many others.
We have state legislatures that are deliberately trying
to make it harder for people to vote.
Over time,
the hard-won battles of 50 years ago erode...
And our democracy erodes.
Man: We just came out of the 2016 election,
where it was the first presidential election
in 50 years without the full protections
of the Voting Rights Act.
I waited six hours and 15 minutes to vote.
The expected wait time was three to four hours.
They should just open it up, let them come inside,
and go on home.
They had one polling location for 100,000 students.
Then a recorder goes out and blames the voters for this.
How dare you blame us for this.
[cheers and applause]
Female anchor 1: House Democrats unveiled
their first major piece of legislation.
Female anchor 2: It puts more power in the hands of voters
by restoring the Voting Rights Act
and improving automatic voter registration.
Pelosi: Today we are introducing HR1
to clean up corruption
and restore integrity to government.
[cheers and applause]
Lewis: The last two years
have made it clear there are forces
which invest thousands and millions of dollars
in drowning out the voice of the people of this country.
I truly believe the way votes were not counted
and purged in Georgia and Florida...
- Go on, tell it, John. - And other states
changed the outcome of the last election.
That must never happen again in our country, never again.
Never again.
[cheers and applause]
Woman: Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell
says the Senate will not vote on HR1.
Their bill would make election day
a new paid holiday for government workers.
This new Democrat socialist majority
wants the federal government to interfere
in our free and fair elections.
It violates our free speech rights by requiring
the publishing of the names and addresses of donors.
Lewis: Every day in the Congress is a fight.
I just keep on believing
that we can change things,
that we can make things better.
Bettie Mae Fikes: [singing] ♪ When the world♪
Ha!
♪ Is tossing me ♪
Man: Yeah. Yeah.
♪ Like a ship ♪
♪ Out on ♪
Hmm.
♪ The sea ♪
♪ Thou who knows ♪
♪ All about it ♪
♪ Stand by, stand by ♪
♪ Stand by ♪
♪ Me ♪
When we got arrested,
the things that held us up
and helped us go through all the brutality
and uncertainty was the music.
John was with us a lot of times.
Lewis: I couldn't carry a tune.
- I couldn't carry a tune. - [laughs]
Man: Congressman Lewis said he couldn't carry a tune.
- Do you want to... - Lewis: No, no, no.
[laughter]
But we would sing.
Well, they played together, the dogs, you know,
from the black family and the white family,
but the children couldn't play together.
So, they made up a song, you know, called "Dogs."
[group singing] ♪ My dog loves your dog ♪
♪ And your dog ♪
♪ Loves my dog ♪
♪ Then why can't we ♪
♪ Sit under the apple tree ♪
♪ You won't walk with me ♪
♪ You won't talk with me ♪
♪ Well, why don't you Hold my hand ♪
♪ Tell me you understand ♪
♪ Now, can't you see that you and me ♪
♪ We'll be so happy ♪
♪ Sitting under The apple tree ♪
[vocalizing]
[all harmonizing]
[cheers and applause]
Woman: That was awesome.
[lively music playing]
Get with it, Michael.
[indistinct singing]
Welcome, brother. How you been doing?
I'm doing good.
How you doing, my dear?
Hey, so good to see you again.
- Good to see you again. - Yes.
- Thank you all so much. - Woman: Our honor.
- It was our honor. - Thank you. Good to see you.
- Our honor. - Thank you.
- God bless you. - It's just for the Lord.
That's what it was.
Thank you.
You come...
[indistinct]
It was like, whoo!
[laughter]
Collins: Got lipstick on the lips.
That's a good sign.
Congressman, you're on tape.
[laughter]
You're on tape. Uh...
You just came out of church.
Praise God.
You got lipstick on the side, on the front.
- Michael, you need to stop it. - Collins: I'm just saying.
I'm just saying.
Talk... pray for this guy. Pray.
Collins: Got lipstick on the front, on the side.
- Woman: On the side. - Collins: Everywhere.
I didn't ask anyone to kiss me.
Hey, the little lady just walked up and planted a kiss.
[laughter]
Lewis: Michael, you're not gonna assist
an old man going up the step?
Got a step it...
Be like old [indistinct], come on.
- Stop it. - [laughing]
Watch the water.
- Michael? - What?
Look, I've been baptized, so you just...
some water was sprinkled on your head.
I went under.
What's the difference?
It's a different.
You mean, you're more baptized than me?
Yes.
I went under, in a creek.
I had the sprinkle.
What's that matter? What's the difference?
- That just... - [Collins laughs]
...some beads
going on your head.
We go down under the water. They bring us back up.
Ooh.
[laughter]
So silly.
Don't let me fall.
- Hi, you. - How you doing?
I'm doing fine.
Hey, how your chickens doing?
Good.
Chickens are mean creatures.
Really? What they do? They fight?
Fight each other, pecking.
They'll fight through the wire.
If one chicken is on one side, they'll fight?
See, my chickens are nonviolent.
I taught them the way of peace.
So, that's the way I looked
as a young boy
growing up outside of Troy.
Ah. So, the very first time I saw this piece,
I said, "Well, part of me thinks it's John Lewis,
but the other part thinks it might be Jay-Z
'cause it's got a little hair on it."
Man 1: That is so true though. that is true.
- I have to tell my... - Man 1: A young Jay-Z.
That is so true. That is funny.
Man 2: That's crazy.
[soft piano music]
Lewis: When I was asked
by the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee
to chair the organization,
I was elected, and I moved to Atlanta.
I remember being in one meeting.
Thurgood Marshall said, "John,
you all just damn fools, really,
for keep going, getting arrested,
and getting your head beat in."
He said, "Just get one case,
and we'll take it to the NAACP."
I said, "Mr. Marshall... "
I was so young.
Then I was 21, talking to Thurgood Marshall.
I said, "Mr. Marshall,
I appreciate all of your work.
I appreciate your contribution,
but we need a mass movement."
My first major responsibility was to represent SNCC
to help organize the March on Washington.
I wrote Congressman Lewis' introduction speech
for... Barack Obama
when he was being nominated in 2008.
I said to him, "Congressman, have you ever spoken
before a crowd this large?"
And he looked at me and said,
"Brenda, I spoke at the March on Washington,"
and I thought, "Right, of course."
[applause]
I have the pleasure
to present to this great audience,
Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee,
Brother John Lewis.
[cheers and applause]
Lewis: In the beginning, President Kennedy
was not supportive of the idea of a march.
He thought there would be violence and chaos
and we wouldn't get a civil rights bill
through the Congress.
I learned to listen to people like A. Philip Randolph,
Dr. King, Roy Wilkins,
James Forman, Whitney Young.
Lafayette: John was sensitive and aware
that he wanted things to go smoothly,
and when they asked him to change his speech,
one phrase was talking about marching into Atlanta
like Sherman,
which sounds a little bit inflammatory.
He agreed that he would accommodate,
you know, by taking that out.
Let us not forget that we are involved
in a serious social revolution.
Where is the political party
that will make it unnecessary to march on Washington?
Where is the political party that will make it unnecessary
to march in the streets of Birmingham?
Those that say be patient and wait,
we must say that we cannot be patient.
If we do not get meaningful legislation
out of this Congress,
we will march through the South,
through the streets of Jackson,
through the streets of Danville,
through the streets of Cambridge,
through the streets of Birmingham.
[cheers and applause]
But we will march
with the spirit of love
and with the spirit of dignity that we have shown here today.
We must say wake up, America, wake up.
For we cannot stop, and we will not and cannot be patient.
[cheers and applause]
[solemn music]
[siren wailing]
Male anchor: Eighteen days after the March on Washington,
Birmingham, Alabama,
a bomb exploded in the 16th Street Baptist Church
just before a Sunday morning service.
Fifteen people were injured.
Four children were killed.
Malcolm X: Black people in this country
have been the victims
of violence at the hands of the white man
for 400 years,
and following the ignorant Negro preachers,
we have thought that it was Godlike
to turn the other cheek
to the brute that was brutalizing us,
and today the honorable Elijah Muhammad
is showing black people in this country
that just as the white man
and every other person on this Earth
has God-given rights, natural rights, civil rights,
any kind of rights that you can think of
when it comes to defending himself,
black people should have... we should have the right
to defend ourselves also.
Lewis: I took the position
that whatever we do,
we must do it in an orderly,
peaceful, nonviolent fashion.
And I believed in a biracial or interracial movement.
That's the only way we going to succeed.
I served three long years
as chair of SNCC,
and I remember people at one of the meetings that we had
started talking about black power.
[jazzy music]
During those days, I never chanted "black power."
I think we all have power.
I was challenged
and then de-elected.
Stokely succeeded.
Stokely Carmichael: So, we form our own party,
and we seek power.
We don't seek integration.
That's irrelevant for what we want.
We want power, and this is the way we get it.
And I said, "It's time for me to leave."
Kitty?
[cat mews]
Kitty, kitty?
The other one went under there someplace.
This piece, it's saying, in effect,
that the same hands that pick cotton,
well, today these hands are picking elected officials.
Woman: Or they are elected officials.
They are elected officials.
This is one of the first major pieces of art that we acquired.
My wife was born and raised in Los Angeles.
In downtown L.A. we went by this gallery,
and we saw this piece,
and my wife fell in love with it.
I fell in love with it.
This is "Confrontation at the Bridge."
It just is a... it's a very powerful piece.
My wife, she was determined in some way to...
save enough money in order for us to buy it,
and that's what she did.
[soft piano music]
Xernona Clayton: Lillian had come to Atlanta
to accept a job at Atlanta University.
She knew every speech that Martin Luther King ever made,
and he had heard about her.
So, he said, "Do you remember, Lillian,
when I made the speech at the University of Ohio?"
So, she said, "No, that wasn't where you made that speech.
That was the University of Denver," or something.
[laughs]
And he would fall down laughing.
She was very opinionated,
independent, and smart.
I liked John because he was just kind,
and one day, I just got the idea,
"Hmm, I think they'd make a good match."
And she was wearing a beautiful dress,
and it had the peace symbols,
and I said to myself,
"This young lady believes in peace,"
and I don't know whether it was planned
or whether it was a conspiracy
on the part of the host of the party.
Clayton: And it was a beautiful marriage.
John Miles Lewis: And I loved my ma.
She was a...
ray of light.
That was my heart right there.
Lewis: She loved to travel.
We'd go down to rural Alabama.
She couldn't stand us going fishing.
She said it was so cruel
pulling the fish out of the water,
and the fish is jumping and trying to breathe for life,
and she just think that...
the right thing to do.
But then we cooked the fish.
She ate the fish.
Clayton: I think he relied on her tremendously.
It's hard to tell
what kind of void that creates for him.
I think he got quieter,
you know, like, sad, sad.
But you love 'em,
but you gotta let 'em go.
[cheers and applause]
Ruth Berg: I am honored and privileged
to welcome all of you to the staff reunion
for the honorable Congressman John Lewis.
I worked for the congressman for 20 years
as his receptionist.
I am so very grateful
for valuable lessons that I learned from him.
Get into trouble,
good trouble.
Speak up, and speak out.
And most importantly,
don't get lost in a sea of despair.
What he has meant to me, I'm sure he means
the same thing to all of you folks
that are in this room tonight.
Let's give him a big round of applause.
Come on up, Mr. Lewis.
[cheers and applause]
Hello, everybody.
- All: Hello. - You look good.
[scattered laughter]
All of you look so young.
What happened to me?
Thank you for putting up with me.
[laughter]
I know sometimes I was not the most
nonviolent person...
[laughter]
But I appreciate you.
I love you.
- Man: Tell the chicken story. - Oh, oh.
You really don't wanna hear that story.
No. Don't make me do it.
[laughter]
Don't try me.
Well, you know, I grew up in rural Alabama...
[laughter, applause]
Outside of a little place called Troy.
Any of you know anything about raising chickens?
Oh, you don't wanna hear this story.
Man: We can learn it from you.
Lewis: Look, when I was a little boy,
I wanted to be a minister,
and I would preach to the chickens.
Some of these chickens would bow their heads.
Some of these chickens would shake their heads.
They never quite said "amen".
Well, that's enough of that.
[laughter]
Look...
we all have been called to do something.
You that are so young must continue to lead.
Jamila, this is what I'm saying to members
of... to our committee?
Yes, sir, this is the statement
for the introduction of the caucus.
How many witnesses are we having?
- We only have five. - Oh, my God.
Yes sir, four Democrats, one Republican.
- Okay. - Two former...
Don't... don't make me laugh.
Don't do it.
I won't.
Two of our witnesses are...
Seems like we're...
we're doing to them...
- What they did to us. - Mm.
But we haven't done this in so long.
So long.
Lewis: Now we're in a majority.
Today's hearing,
we will review whether a president,
vice president, or any candidate
for these offices should be required by law
to make their tax return available to the public.
Ken Keyes,
Mr. Keyes, you're not a stranger.
You've been before this committee before, so.
We'll try to keep a little humor going.
- Yes, sir. - Okay.
So, you have 20 minutes.
Have you eaten yet, Congressman?
- Yes, yes, mm-hmm. - Okay.
I think we're ready.
Woman: This is good, takes a little shine off there.
What about my forehead?
I don't want it to blind anyone.
[woman chuckles]
I told them, I said oversight,
we're like a well-oiled machine.
We don't do drama.
When President Nixon faced questions
about his federal income taxes,
he said,
"I welcome this kind of examination
because people have got to know
whether or not
their president is a crook."
Understanding President Trump's financial interests
could, for example,
shed light on exactly how he and his businesses
will be affected by the massive tax legislation
he championed last year.
It would set a very dangerous precedent,
and the question is, where does it end?
What about the tax returns of the Speaker,
members of Congress?
The chairman of the committee may request
the tax return information of any taxpayer
from the treasury secretary,
who is obligated to furnish it.
Should the secretary refuse,
we would be in uncharted territory.
Female reporter: The treasury secretary, Steve Mnuchin,
defying yet another subpoena from Congress,
this time for six years of the president's tax returns.
Male reporter: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi today
became the latest Democrat to call
the Trump administration's refusal to comply
with congressional subpoenas
a constitutional crisis.
[indistinct conversation]
John, hey. John Lewis.
- Hi, how you doing? - Hello. Meet my old lady.
Hi, how you doing, young lady?
I'm doing great.
Man, I appreciate everything you're doing, man.
Thank you.
Thank you, sir, for all your service.
Lewis: Thank you. How you doing?
Very well today, thank you.
- What a pleasant surprise. - Good to see you.
- You're my hero. - Well, thank you, brother.
I just want to thank you for all your service.
- Thank you. - For all these years.
We really look up to you.
Female producer: What is it like
walking through an airport with him?
- Tedious. - [laughs]
How you doing? Fine, good to see you.
- Okay. - I'm fine.
You doing okay?
Sometimes it might take 30 minutes.
It could take an hour and 30 minutes.
Hello. How are you doing this morning?
Hello, so nice to meet you.
- Good to meet you. - Thank you.
I've had to impersonate John a number of times,
and the reason is, is that you'll have...
I'll have a whole family come up.
[laughing]
And they're saying,
"Johnny, this is John Lewis,"
and I'm like... I don't want to embarrass the parents.
I don't want to... so I've gotten a lot of pictures taken
with people just assuming that I was John Lewis.
But you know what?
I am so glad that
they mistake me for a great man.
One time we were in Ghana in the marketplace.
"John Lewis!"
What an honor to be in front of you.
Lewis: Well, it's good to see you.
- Love you. - You're wonderful.
- Thank you, girl. - It's such an honor.
Cab drivers in Egypt.
Collins: Okay, one, two, three.
Just... he always been busy.
The afternoon's really packed,
so we're gonna move quickly through those meetings.
You've got Dov Wilker. You remember him from AJC.
Woman: Yes, sir.
Lewis: Okay.
Sorry keeping you.
Man 1: We would really appreciate
if you would consider drafting a letter
- to the Georgia delegation... - Mm-hmm.
to support the project.
Mm-hmm.
Man 2: I'm a first-generation immigrant.
The system needs to be developed in a way
where it is helpful
for those who are trying to follow the system.
Lewis: Mm-hmm.
Okay.
Make yourself comfortable.
Who else could advocate better for veterans
when the nurses who are sitting right there
at the bedsides taking care of them?
Lewis: I'm sorry to keep you waiting.
No problem, that's fine.
- How you doing? - Good to see you.
Good to see you.
I noticed most of you are drinking water.
We have something a little stronger.
- We have... - [laughter]
We have Coca-Cola. We have tea.
We're hoping through your oversight committee
that you could bring our CEO of AT&T,
one of our largest employers,
Randall Stephenson, before your committee.
Lewis: Okay.
He promised 7,000 new jobs
- if they pass the tax bill. - Lewis: Okay.
Man: So, we are asking
for an investigation into these major corporations
and what have they done with the tax breaks.
You are my representative, so I'm coming to you,
so you could try to help us to start this impeachment.
We have to save our democracy.
Woman: Yes, we have to.
And sometimes I feel like we're gonna lose it.
I think by winning the majority back in the House,
we... as Nancy Pelosi said, the speaker,
whatever we do,
we're going to do it in a systematic way.
So, stand by, so.
Lewis: You know it's been a long day.
- I know. - There you go.
Hold on. You frame him up.
Man: Want to come closer, or are you good?
No, I'm good.
I just want David to be still, stop flying like a chicken.
- [woman laughs] - Stop flying like a chicken?
No, I'm playing with you now.
No, I got you, I got you.
Man: Keep that smile. Keep that energy.
Y'all take care. Thank you for coming.
- Buh-bye. Buh-bye. - Bye.
- Lewis: Rachelle? - Yes, sir?
- Where's Mike? - They're coming.
They're with Jared.
Rachelle O'Neil: In the district office
it's just... it's more light,
so we get a jovial, funny... we get the lighter
John Lewis in the district office.
It was the congressman's birthday,
and we had had a birthday lunch and birthday cake.
- No, I'm full. - [music playing]
I'm so full, I can't even move.
O'Neil: We get a little loopy, I guess,
from all the sugar.
- Woman: ♪ I'm happy ♪ - ♪ Come along ♪
- ♪ If you feel ♪ - [laughter]
- Woman: Go, Congressman. - ♪ Without a roof ♪
And I posted it.
Woman: Now, break it down.
This my song.
O'Neil: The next day, I was getting calls
from everyone saying it had gone viral.
I didn't know what "gone viral" meant.
This has nothing to do with civil rights.
It has everything to do with
a little bit of, shall we say, mojo?
O'Neil: There was just so much going on in the country
at the time.
It made people happy, literally.
Oh, he loves to dance!
Did you see the video?
Okay.
♪ Because I'm happy ♪
♪ Clap along if you feel ♪
♪ Like that's what You want to do ♪
Lewis: Oh, the light just went on.
My mother would not be happy with me
having you to see this junky,
disorganized place.
So that's my collection of chickens.
This birdhouse came from Atlanta,
and I made it a chicken house.
So, you see the little chicks in there.
My great-grandfather, Frank Carter,
was a wonderful man.
This is a picture with my late friend Julian Bond.
This picture was taken in the delta of Mississippi.
We were doing voter registration,
urging people to get registered.
It was so dangerous to attempt to get registered to vote.
["Will the Circle Be Unbroken" by the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band]
♪ Will the circle be unbroken ♪
♪ By and by, Lord, by and by ♪
Lewis: The Voter Education Project
is working in 11 states in the South.
We are working in states from Virginia to Texas.
Our message to blacks in Mississippi is simple.
Only you
can make the necessary choices
about what your destiny will be.
- Mr. Lewis. - How you doing?
[overlapping chatter]
- Good to see you. - Representative Julian Bond.
- I know him. - All right.
How you doing?
[indistinct chatter]
Julian Bond: Have you registered to vote yet?
- No. - No?
Man: We're going to take some of your neighbors
down in the morning at 10:00.
- Woman: Right, this one. - Someone will pick you up,
take you to the county courthouse, and bring you back.
It's the easiest thing in the world.
Lewis: It's not enough just to register,
but on election day, we must vote.
We must have some control over our own political destiny.
In Selma, they had only about 2.1% of the black people
of voting age registered in 1965.
Today in Selma,
more than 30 percent of the blacks of voting age
are registered to vote.
Female reporter: Do you remember
when you decided to run for office?
Lewis: I was in Robert Kennedys' room
when he was murdered in Los Angeles,
and I said, "Maybe, maybe I should run for something,"
and I decided to run,
and my first race,
that was not that successful.
- Mm-hmm. - I went to Washington
and worked with President Carter for three years
and came back
and ran for a city council seat in Atlanta.
When the congressional office came open, I ran.
Male reporter: Julian Bond and John Lewis,
friends for 25 years,
now running against each other for the same seat in Congress.
So how you doing today? Good to see you.
Appreciate your help. Good to see you.
Lewis: It's the highest possibility
for a black elected official that would like to move up,
and I think most politicians would like to move up.
I'm gonna win, but we're still gonna be good friends.
Male reporter: The runoff has been nasty.
There were no serious issue differences
between the two until Lewis made one.
He took a drug test
and challenged Bond to do the same.
These tests are wrong, they're wrong in the workplace,
and they're wrong in your attempt
to pander to the fears of the voters
of the fifth congressional district.
Male reporter: Bond called the drug test
a cheap political trick,
demagoguery, McCarthyism.
I've known you for 25 years.
Our families went to Disneyland together.
We've been to South Africa together.
We've marched together. We've picketed together.
I've never heard you say
some of the things you've said about me this year.
Male reporter: John Lewis voted today
a few blocks from where Julian Bond cast his ballot.
It was a stunning political upset.
Atlanta City Councilman John Lewis
defeated State Senator Julian Bond.
Bryant Gumbel: John Lewis, congratulations.
Lewis: Thank you.
Gumbel: You gained the nomination.
Was it worth the price, the stress on your friendship?
Well, this race was a very difficult race.
Julian is a very good and close friend.
We were friends long before this campaign,
and we will continue to be friends.
Julian Bond, do you still see
John Lewis as you did before this began?
Oh, no, I couldn't say that.
There's been a real strain
put on this relationship between the two of us,
but you know, time is a great healer,
and I'm sure in time the wounds will heal.
You had a big lead,
and you were supposed to have won this election.
Why didn't you wind up with more votes?
- He got more votes than I did. - Gumbel: Why?
Well, it's pretty obvious from the returns that
while black voters favored me by a pretty substantial margin,
about 60-40, white voters favored him about 80-20,
and that was the deciding factor.
Here you were, an activist on the front line
of the movement in the 1960s.
Now you're a bureaucrat, pardon me, in Washington,
working in an important agency,
but nonetheless, you've become part of the establishment.
Well, I see my role today and I see the role of others
that are part of government
as continuing that movement of the '60s.
Interviewer: The battleground has shifted, you're saying,
to Washington and these other areas.
Well, it is no longer the drama in the streets.
It is in Washington, it is in City Hall,
the state capitols around the South
and around this country.
You know, being on the outside, I had to struggle.
I had to fight.
But now I'm fighting from within.
- I have not looked back since. - Woman: Mm-hmm.
It's a calling, to serve.
There's nothing wrong with putting poor people to work,
providing job training and daycare.
People like to think of him as a civil rights icon.
They don't like to think of him
as a legislator.
Lewis: Today we are considering a fair housing measure
which not only protects our nation's minorities,
but it protects the needs of those with disabilities
and families with children.
Ronald Reagan: Every senator and representative
standing up here with me today
played an important role
in the passage of this landmark civil rights bill,
and I want to mention
especially Representative John Lewis.
Lewis: You are voting for a declaration of war.
The American people don't want war.
How long do we have to wait
before we decide to ban assault weapons?
We have another opportunity to bring more of our citizens
into political participation.
Bill Clinton: There were offenses
put in the criminal code that carried the death penalty,
and he was against the death penalty
as a matter of conscience,
and I must say, the older I've gotten,
the closer I've come to his position,
and maybe what we need is a little more
reconciliation and rebuilding.
Lewis: American workers are suffering.
They're working hard,
and they're still living in poverty.
That's not right.
We should have put an end to Don't Ask, Don't Tell
long ago.
We're going to pass national healthcare.
We must stop this cycle
from being repeated over and over again.
He challenges the conscience of the Congress
every day that he is here.
We're calling on the leadership of the House
to bring common-sense gun control legislation
to the House floor.
Let us vote!
We came here to do our job!
We came here to work!
We will occupy this floor.
Rashida Tlaib: And he sat on the House floor
holding hands with other members,
and I thought to myself,
"That's exactly what I would do."
He probably didn't realize this girl, you know,
sitting in her living room in southwest Detroit
looking at the screen of this legendary man,
it was pretty incredibly inspiring,
and then later on, now I'm serving with him.
It's kind of surreal.
When Donald Trump came in
and tried to take away healthcare,
I called John Lewis up, and I said,
"I don't know what to do, but can we just
open up Facebook and have a conversation?"
Sometimes, you know, by sitting in or sitting down,
you're really standing up.
Booker: And because of him,
five, ten, twenty,
hundreds of people show up to sit with us
and have a conversation about why healthcare is so important.
We were in a stalemate
regarding the building of the wall,
that we went to the United States Senate,
and we did a sit-in,
and I remember
myself and some of my other freshman colleagues
wanting to yell out from the sides, "Shame on you,"
and Congressman Lewis said,
"That's not how we do this."
And I mean, you could have heard a pin drop.
John Lewis introduced the legislation in 1988
for the African-American Culture and History Museum.
So, John was always trying to tell the story
of African-Americans in this country
and the imperativeness
of treating people with dignity and equality.
Stacey Abrams: You cannot replace a John Lewis
because it is a matter of strategy,
someone who's cultivated a story
to remind us that our past is not passed.
This is something you know a lot about,
so I wanted to put this front and center.
And you see Hosea holding his nose.
He knew they were getting ready to use the tear gas.
- Oh, that's what he was doing. - Mm-hmm.
Lonnie Bunch: Did you ever despair?
Lewis: No.
You couldn't.
You have to be hopeful. You have to be optimistic.
You get knocked down, and...
you get up,
keep going.
Lewis: The Monday after Bloody Sunday,
after we were beaten in Selma,
Dr. King came to my hospital bedside and said,
"John, don't worry.
I issued a call for religious leaders to come."
Man: The events in Selma have been brought to a climax
by a nighttime attack on a white Boston minister
by white men.
He died two days later.
Lewis: President Lyndon Johnson spoke to the nation.
It's not just Negros,
but really, it's all of us
who must overcome
the crippling legacy of bigotry and injustice,
and we shall overcome.
Lewis: First time an American president
quoted the words of the theme song of the movement.
I was in the hospital from Sunday until about an hour ago.
I don't know if I will be able to participate
in the march today,
but it is my feeling
that people all over this country,
but particularly the people right here in Alabama,
right here in Selma,
should continue to march toward Montgomery.
All: ♪ Turn me round, oh, turn me round ♪
♪ Oh, turn me round ♪
♪ Ain't gonna let nobody turn me round ♪
♪ I'm gonna keep on a-walking, keep on a-talking ♪
- ♪ Walking into freedom land ♪ - ♪ Oh ♪
♪ Ain't gonna let nobody Turn me around ♪
♪ Turn me around, Turn me around ♪
♪ Ain't gonna let nobody Turn me around ♪
♪ I just keep on a-walking, Keep on a-talking ♪
♪ Marching on to freedom land ♪
♪ Ain't gonna let nobody Turn me around ♪
♪ Can't let them Turn me around, oh Lord ♪
- ♪ Turn me around ♪ - ♪ Turn me around ♪
♪ Ain't gonna let nobody turn me around ♪
♪ I just keep on a-walking Oh, I keep on a-moving... ♪
I'll have great trials and tribulations,
but I said when we go across the city line tomorrow,
we have a new song that we're going to sing,
"We Have Overcome."
[cheering]
We were not afraid.
♪ Turn me around ♪
♪ You know, I keep on a-walking ♪
♪ I just keep on a-talking ♪
♪ Marching on To freedom land ♪
Male anchor: President Johnson sends to Congress a bill
to reinforce the right to vote.
The president signs an accompanying letter
to the legislators
urging swift passage for the bill
that would outlaw discriminatory practices.
Lewis: We will use the energy
and the resources of our organization
to implement the voting law.
We are going to the entire state of Georgia,
Alabama, Mississippi,
parts of North Carolina, to get hundreds and thousands
and literally millions of Negro people
who have been denied the right to vote that right
and to quicken the day
when they will participate in the democratic process.
Male anchor: In three years, more than 62 percent
of eligible blacks are registered.
Mississippi alone increased registration 800%,
and this was the beginning of a political revolution.
The official inaugural book.
Female producer: What did that feel like,
to see him...
be elected?
Lewis: Oh, I cried.
I cried uncontrollably.
I jumped so high, and I started crying.
I didn't think my feet were gonna touch the ground.
I cried.
I was crying for Dr. King,
for President Kennedy and Robert Kennedy,
my parents and grandparents and others,
hundreds and thousands of people
who didn't live to see this.
When the inauguration was over,
I had a piece of paper.
I said, "Mr. President, will you sign something?"
Well, he wrote on it,
"It's because of you, John.
Barack Obama."
And when I saw him at the second inauguration,
he said to me... and he remembered so well.
He said, "It's still because of you, John."
I said, "Well, thank you, Mr. President."
Ooh, like a dream come true to think about it.
And what is going on now just...
Oh, make me feel like crying again.
They want everybody to vote.
I don't want everybody to vote.
Elections are not won by a majority of people.
They never have been from the beginning of our country,
and they are not now.
As a matter of fact, our leverage in the elections,
quite candidly, goes up as the voting populace goes down.
Our democracy is under attack,
and it's under attack in a way
that we have not seen for...
50 years.
Today I come with a heavy heart,
deeply concerned about the future of our democracy.
The people have a right to know
whether they can put their faith
and trust in the outcome of our election.
Some of those old battles that many of us thought
had been fought and won,
we have to re-engage.
This is not a time for despair.
This is a time for action,
and that's what I learned from John Lewis.
[dramatic music]
Barack Obama: In one afternoon, 50 years ago,
so much of our turbulent history,
all that history met on this bridge.
Their faith was questioned.
Their lives were threatened,
their patriotism challenged,
and yet what could be more American
than what happened in this place?
The Voting Rights Act
was one of the crowning achievements of our democracy.
President Reagan signed its renewal
when he was in office.
President George W. Bush signed its renewal
when he was in office.
If we want to honor this day,
pledge to restore that law this year!
That's how we honor those on this bridge.
[crowd singing] ♪ This little light of mine ♪
♪ Yeah, I'm gonna let it shine ♪
♪ Everybody say This little light of mine ♪
♪ O Lord I'm gonna let it shine ♪
♪ Well, let it shine ♪
♪ Let it shine Let it shine ♪
We will create the beloved community.
We will redeem the soul of America.
There may be some setbacks, some delays,
but as a nation and as a people,
we will get there,
and I still believe we shall overcome.
["Happy" by Pharrell Williams]
♪ It might seem crazy What I'm 'bout to say ♪
All: We love John! We love John!
Male reporter: Congressman John Lewis
leads thousands of people
through the streets of downtown Atlanta,
a march for social justice and women,
one of hundreds of similar events
organized all around the globe.
Male reporter 2: Georgia Congressman John Lewis
will introduce one of the Best Picture nominees
during the weekend's Oscars.
You know, it's good to be out of Washington sometimes.
♪ ...if you feel like a room Without a roof ♪
Anything you need from me, you let me know.
Thank you.
Man: John Lewis has earned our lasting gratitude
for a lifetime dedicated to the pursuit
of equality and justice for all.
♪ ...what happiness is to you ♪
♪ Because I'm happy ♪
♪ Clap along if you feel like That's what you wanna do ♪
♪ Here come bad news Talking this and that ♪
♪ Yeah ♪
♪ Well, give me all you got And don't hold it back ♪
♪ Yeah ♪
♪ Well, I should probably Warn you I'll be just fine ♪
♪ Yeah ♪
♪ No offense to you Don't waste your time ♪
♪ Here's why ♪
♪ Because I'm happy ♪
♪ Clap along if you feel Like a room without a roof ♪
♪ Because I'm happy ♪
♪ Clap along if you feel like Happiness is the truth ♪
♪ Because I'm happy ♪
♪ Clap along if you know What happiness is to you ♪
♪ Because I'm happy ♪
♪ Clap along if you feel Like that's what you wanna do ♪
♪ Hey, uh ♪
♪ Bring me down Can't nothin' ♪
♪ Bring me down ♪
♪ My level is too high To bring me down ♪
♪ Can't nothin' Bring me down ♪
♪ I said Let me tell you now, uh ♪
♪ Bring me down Can't nothin' ♪
♪ Bring me down ♪
♪ Can't nothin' Bring me down, I said ♪
♪ Because I'm happy ♪
♪ Clap along if you feel Like a room without a roof ♪
♪ Because I'm happy ♪
♪ Clap along if you feel Like happiness is the truth ♪
♪ Because I'm happy ♪
♪ Clap along if you know What happiness is to you ♪
♪ Because I'm happy ♪
♪ Clap along if you feel Like that's what you wanna do ♪
♪ Come on ♪
Be happy, everybody, happy.