Rep. John Lewis: House Sit-In Just The Beginning
Kate Sweeney / WABE
After last week’s House-floor sit-in by Democrats seeking a vote on gun control measures, what’s next?
That was the question on the minds of some 200 people at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta on Wednesday for a town-hall meeting on gun violence.
Democratic Congressman John Lewis, a veteran civil rights activist, helped organize the June 22 sit-in.
At the town hall, he said that was just the beginning.
“You know, in the movement, we have what we call ‘surprises’ … The word will go out, and we all have to be available to act, and find a way to get in good trouble. Necessary trouble.”
Lewis did not comment on whether further civil disobedience is planned. He said he hopes lawmakers can have a “meeting of minds” on the gun issue once Congress reconvenes July 5.
Lewis said he was “disappointed” by Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan’s claim that the Democratic House floor sit-in was “a publicity stunt,” and compared Ryan to segregationist politicians during the civil rights era.
“[H]e sounds like Lester Maddox, and also like George Wallace. That’s what they said about the civil movement … where we marched all across the South for the right to vote.”
Lester Maddox and George Wallace were governors of Georgia and Alabama in the 1960s.
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