Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), Chairwoman of the House Committee on Financial Services, will join a Congressional delegation to San Diego to participate in the Christening Ceremony for the USNS John Lewis, the first ship in the T-AO Fleet Oiler Program. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) is leading the Congressional delegation. The program is dedicated in honor of the late Congressman John Lewis of Georgia. The ceremony will take place July 17, 2021, one year after the Congressman’s passing.  ... read more / view gallery »

While some of us are spending our time watching the news or wondering how we are going to survive the pandemic, now is the time to understand the battles we are in and determine what we must do individually and collectively. ... read more »

YouthBuild Champions are congressional leaders who advocate for funding and policies that benefit opportunity youth and their communities. Every year, these elected officials author and lead the signing campaigns of Dear Colleague letters that signal Congress’s strong bipartisan, bicameral support for the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) YouthBuild program. ... read more »

This year, we said goodbye to amazing men and women, who left lasting legacies with their work, talents and life. ... read more / view gallery »

President Trump wants to paper over the living wound of racism. He’s issued Executive Orders and established a new national commission designed to whitewash our history—and deny the daily reality of being Black in America. He actively appeals to white supremacists and fans the flames of hatred and division in our country, because he thinks it benefits him politically. He ignores the most basic job of every president: the duty to care for all of us, not just those who voted for him. ... read more »

The Democratic and Republican Conventions have always been a sight to behold. Most of us wait in anticipation over all the fanfare and excitement that happens when they occur.  Every four years, leaders and party supporters come together to rally around their chosen candidate and to help the voters get to know a little more about the candidates and their families. The pandemic has made all of us adjust to a new way of doing things and this even includes political conventions.  Everything has gone virtual.   Or at least we are told that is how things should be; but there will always be those that do not follow the rules. ... read more »

Even in the darkest of times, we can hear our friend and mentor John Lewis: "Ours is not the struggle of one day, one week, or one year. Ours is not the struggle of one judicial appointment or presidential term. Ours is the struggle of a lifetime, or maybe even many lifetimes, and each one of us in every generation must do our part." ... read more »

August 6 was the 55th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act. If the constitutional amendments passed after the Civil War — the 13, 14 and 15th Amendments — were the “second founding” of democracy in America, the Voting Rights Act, which after nearly a century of segregation gave legal effect to the 15th Amendment that outlawed discrimination in the right to vote, should be considered the “third founding.” ... read more »

As a boy, John listened through the door after bedtime as his father's friends complained about the Klan. One Sunday as a teenager, he heard Dr. King preach on the radio. As a college student in Tennessee, he signed up for Jim Lawson's workshops on the tactic of nonviolent civil disobedience. John Lewis was getting something inside his head, an idea he couldn't shake that took hold of him - that nonviolent resistance and civil disobedience were the means to change laws, but also change hearts, and change minds, and change nations, and change the world. ... read more »

The battle of LA took place on the first day of the NBA restart in Orlando, Florida. The thunderous environment in Staples Center was missing but the star-studded talent was still present as the Lakers defeated the Clippers in a nail-biter, 103-101.   ... read more »

The civil rights leaders led his life my example that fighting for justice is the only option. ... read more »

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The virtual march -- which will bring forward a bold National Black agenda -- will take place on August 28th, 2020, the 57th anniversary of the historic March on Washington, where the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his "I Have a Dream" speech. Accompanying virtual events with music performances and keynote speakers will also take place on the nights of August 27th and 28th.   ... read more »

FORMER PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA  “Considering his enormous impact on the history of this country, what always struck those who met John was his gentleness and humility. Born into modest means in the heart of the Jim Crow South, he understood that he was just one of a long line of heroes in the struggle for racial justice. Early on, he embraced the principles of nonviolent resistance and civil disobedience as the means to bring about real change in this country, understanding that such tactics had the power not only to change laws, but to change hearts and minds as well.”  ... read more »

Hundreds of marchers hold hands as they cross the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Ala., on Sunday, March 7, 2004. It is the 39th anniversary of the civil rights march across the bridge when state troopers used tear gas and billy clubs against activists marching. Front row from left: U.S. Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., U.S. Rep. Artur Davis, D-Ala., Rev. Jesse Jackson and Rev. C.T. Vivian. (AP Photo/Dave Martin) ... read more »