John Lewis Visits The Black Lives Matter Plaza: Very Moved By Protests
Celebrated civil rights icon and Congressman John Lewis met with Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser to pay visit to the site where the mayor had “Black Lives Matter” painted on a road that leads to the White House.
“It is very moving, very moving, very impressive,” Lewis said in an interview with a local Fox affiliate of the massive protests that gathered near the White House on Saturday.“I think what the people in DC and around the nation are sending a mighty, powerful and strong message to the world that we will get there.”
Lewis also said he was moved days back by the widespread protests that have broken across the country in recent weeks following the killing of George Floyd.
“It was very moving to see hundreds of thousands of people from all over America and around the world take to the streets to speak up, to speak out, to get into what I call ‘good trouble,’ or to get in the way,” Lewis said of the recent protests this week.
“And because of the action of young and old, black, white, Latino, Asian-American and Native Americans … because people cried and prayed, people would never forget what happened, and how it happened,” he continued.
Earlier in the weekend, the words “Black Lives Matter” were painted in yellow on 16th Street NW on Friday. The same day, Bowser announced on Twitter that a section of the street, “in front of the White House,” had also been officially named “Black Lives Matter Plaza.”
“There was a dispute this week about whose street this is. Mayor Bowser wanted to make it abundantly clear that this is DC’s street and to honor demonstrators who peacefully protesting on Monday evening,” John Falcicchio, the mayor’s chief of staff, tweeted on Friday.
Since its reveal on Friday, the two-block span has been the site of several demonstrations over the weekend as protesters continue to take to the streets against police brutality in racism following the police killing of George Floyd.