Washington – John Lewis, the civil rights warrior who died Friday aged 80, excelled at what he liked to call “good trouble” – standing up against racial injustice to forge a better United States.

The African-American icon marched with Martin Luther King Jr., was nearly beaten to death by police, and later as a sitting congressman was arrested multiple times for protesting genocide or leading immigration reform sit-ins.

“From a historical standpoint, there are few who are able to become giants,” Martin Luther King III, the oldest son of the civil rights icon, told CNN. “John Lewis really became a giant through his examples that he set for all of us.”

Lewis was a sharecropper’s son whose fights for justice helped define an era, and whose moral authority as an indomitable elder statesman left a permanent imprint in Congress.

He was diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer in late 2019.

White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany tweeted on Saturday: “Rep. John Lewis was an icon of the civil rights movement, and he leaves an enduring legacy that will never be forgotten. We hold his family in our prayers, as we remember Rep. John Lewis’ incredible contributions to our country.”

But Lewis had clashed with President Donald Trump on multiple occasions – boycotting his inauguration and citing Russian interference in the 2016 election to question his legitimacy.

Trump in turn said Lewis’s Georgia district was “horrible” and the congressman was “all talk” and “no action.”

In a statement announcing he was ordering flags lowered to half staff at the White House and other public buildings and embassies for a day, Trump’s only mention of Lewis was to say he was acting “as a mark of respect for the memory and longstanding public service of Representative John Lewis, of Georgia.”

He tweeted later: “Saddened to hear the news of civil rights hero John Lewis passing, Melania and I send our prayers to he and his family.”

-Nampa/AFP