For Immediate Release: July 18, 2020

NATIONWIDE— Following the passing of civil rights icon and Rep. John Lewis (D-GA) at 80 years old on Friday, July 17, 2020, Color Of Change–the nation’s largest online racial justice organization–issued the following statement from President Rashad Robinson:

“John Lewis had the clearest vision of justice there can be. He saw how civil rights would transform America, but he knew there would be no civil rights without the kind of Black political power that was willing and capable of disrupting the status quo. He became that power, and he disrupted the status quo. When attacks on net neutrality threatened the ability of Black activists to raise their voices and move this country forward, John Lewis not only understood that net neutrality was a racial justice issue, he stood up against the corporations who wanted to pretend that it wasn’t. He told Black Lives Matter activists that he wished he had an open internet in his time, and he challenged his colleagues to protect the freedoms that make racial justice possible. He saw the humanity in everyone, and was far ahead on LGBT rights, linking all oppressed people’s struggles together.”

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