美国民权运动先驱、联邦资深众议员约翰·刘易斯（John
Lewis）星期五（17日）去世，享年80岁。刘易斯是代表佐治亚州亚特兰大市的民主党籍众议员。他与马丁·路德·金共同参加了美国1960年代的民权运动。马丁·路德·金在首都华盛顿发表“我有一个梦想”的演说时，刘易斯就站在他身边。刘易斯长期以来继续为美国民权和人权而努力，直至生命的最后一刻，颇受两党人士的尊敬。川普总统星期六（18日）发推文对刘易斯议员的逝世表示哀悼。他并颁发文告，下令全美各政府机构、海外使领事馆和军事基地7月18日全天下半旗为刘易斯致哀。
美国亚太联盟（APAPA）发表如下英文声明，悼念民权运动先驱刘易斯。
APAPA Mourns the Passing of A Civil Rights Giant
(John Robert Lewis Feb 21, 1940 – July 17, 2020)APAPA joins our country in
mourning the passing of John Robert Lewis, a Civil Rights Giant who was a
contemporary and a follower of Martin Lurther King, Jr. John was born a son
of humble Alabama sharecroppers who suffered a severe beating to within an
inch of his death at the hands of police during a march in Selma, Alabama in
1965. He has survived this ordeal and many other trials and tribulations to
become an Icon of non-violent civil rights demonstrations to “heal the soul
of America” and to create a more equitable and fairer country where all men
are created and treated equally.During the landmark march on Wednesday,
August 28, 1963, in Washington DC, John Lewis was a mere 23 years old who
chaired the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). Lewis was
credited with being one of the “Big Six” who helped organize this landmark
event in which Martin Luther King Jr., standing in front of the Lincoln
Memorial, delivered his immemorial “I Have a Dream” speech to call for an
end to racism. Since then, John lived a life of principle and has ably
served Georgia’s 5th Congressional District as the US representative for
more than three decades. He was credited as being the “moral conscience of
Congress” because of his life long embodiment of nonviolent fight for civil
rights. By his own count, he has been arrested more than 40 times while
demonstrating against racial and social injustice as a passionate and vocal
speaker and a practitioner of non-violent civil rights protests.Asian
Americans should be forever grateful to John Lewis, Martin Luther King, Jr.,
and other civil rights leaders who have changed America’s face forever by
their non-violent protests in the late ’50s and early ’60’s. Their actions
have precipitated the Immigration and Naturalization Act of 1965, also known
as the Hart-Celler Act which abolished an earlier quota system based on
national origin and established a new immigration policy based on merits to
attract skilled labor and on reuniting immigrant families to the United
States.We acknowledge that America is still a “work in progress” and APAPA
pledges to follow the examples of these civil rights pioneers to make the
“American Dream” come true to everyone!
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