At Lewis Funeral, Obama Calls For Renewing Voting Rights Act

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Former President Barack Obama, addresses the service during the funeral for the late Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, Thursday, July 30, 2020. (Alyssa Pointer/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP, Pool)

ATLANTA (AP) — Former President Barack Obama used Rep. John Lewis’ funeral on Thursday to issue a stark warning that the voting rights and equal opportunity the late civil rights icon championed are under increasing threat heading into the 2020 election.

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Obama, speaking from the pulpit of the church that Martin Luther King Jr. once led, called on Congress to renew the Voting Rights Act, which the Supreme Court diminished in 2012.

“You want to honor John, let’s honor him by revitalizing the law that he was willing to die for,” Obama said.

Obama endorsed ending the Senate filibuster if that is what’s needed to pass an overhauled voting law. The first Black president called the procedural hurdle that effectively requires 60 votes to pass major legislation a “Jim Crow relic,” referring to the segregation era.

The Democratic-led House has adopted a sweeping rewrite of the Voting Rights Act, and Democrats want to name the act after Lewis. But it faces opposition in the Republican-led Senate.

Obama did not name President Donald Trump or any GOP congressional leaders, and he noted that the original Voting Rights Act of 1965 and its renewal over the years have drawn Republican and Democratic votes in Congress and been signed by presidents from both parties.

But, he said, “There are those in power doing their darnedest to discourage people from voting by closing polling locations and targeting minorities and students with restrictive ID laws.”

Obama’s eulogy for Lewis came hours after Trump suggested delaying the November election, something he doesn’t have the authority to do. Trump has falsely claimed that increased use of mail-in ballots because of the coronavirus pandemic will threaten the election’s legitimacy.

Lewis, who died July 17 at the age of 80, was among the youngest leaders of the civil rights movement. He was the youngest speaker at the 1963 March on Washington, where King delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech. He was an original member of the Freedom Riders, activists who challenged segregated bus lines in Southern states, and he was badly beaten by Alabama State Troopers in 1965 as he led a voting rights march in Selma, Alabama.

Obama awarded Lewis the Medal of Freedom in 2011.


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No nonsense
No nonsense
3 years ago

עבד עבדים יהיה לאחיו
I personally wouldn’t let you wash my toilets due to the lack of trust and being a nasty person, but that’s exactly what you need to do.

PaulinSaudi
PaulinSaudi
3 years ago

This certainly needs to be done. The Southern states have been monkeying with Federal elections.

Truth
Truth
3 years ago

Evil obumer harasha go to hell.
8 years of hell under your feckless regime.
We good american don’t want you and your evil party.

hu bacha
hu bacha
3 years ago

tell this lowlife to get off the stage, we had enough roaches in the white house

Facts Rule
Facts Rule
3 years ago

The vast majority of voting corruption has always been committed by DemoncRATs. Obomber himself used our IRS and national security organizations to stifle Republican turnout and doom President Trump. The former worked, the later didn’t. But, criminal elements in national security continued a not so silent coup against our duly elected President.
Obomber’s AG Holder dropped the case against Black men with weapons at a polling station screaming at White people to keep them from voting.
The writer then editorializes a couple of lies about what the President tweeted and about mail-in ballots.
I’m so sick of twisted coverage, lies, & evil from the vile Left.

margaret
margaret
3 years ago

that stink in the white house we finally got rid of was horrible b.o. – and i don’t mean body odor

ANON21
ANON21
3 years ago

Boruch Hashem were done with this lunatic