Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee, a Senior Member of Congress released the following statement on the passing of her friend and colleague Congressman John Lewis.

“The world has lost a beloved brother in the name of the Honorable John Lewis. John Lewis’ life and legacy was based on the seriousness of now. He knew that America and the world could not wait for freedom, justice or equality. From his early days as a boy from Troy, Alabama, he would leave home to follow in the footsteps of his heroic mentor, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who established the Beloved Community and the importance of the Civil Rights Movement to move America forward. John Lewis never stopped moving America. He never stopped challenging America. And in the United States Congress, no matter what John Lewis fought for, he fought for it with dignity, grace, and fierceness. In his speech at the 1963 March on Washington, he indicated that we wanted freedom, not in drafts, but we wanted it now. Everything that John Lewis did was with a fierceness of now. John Lewis’ legacy for this nation is to embrace all people, no matter who they are and no matter what they are. So, it is important that John Lewis’ message never dies.”

“I was very pleased to be able to speak with him last week. He was strong, fierce and powerful. And of course, he was a man of strength and resolve that believed America’s divisiveness cannot end without a commitment to the Beloved Community. We will miss John Lewis forever. But what we must do is continue the journey that John Lewis started, and that is a journey toward freedom. And important journey and a journey that we should never ever forget. The life and legacy of John Lewis is a legacy of the fierceness of now. And the fight for freedom does not end until it is attained. The Beloved Community, America, has lost not a hero of this country, but a hero of the world.”