John Lewis Civil Rights Fellowship Act of 2022

Floor Speech

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Ms. WILLIAMS of Georgia. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding.

I rise today in support of H.R. 8681, the John Lewis Civil Rights Fellowship Act of 2022.

Following in the footsteps of Congressman John Lewis is no easy feat. He was a friend and a mentor to many of us. He was known as the conscience of this body. I often tell people that while I will never fill his shoes, I strive daily to carry out his legacy.

It is my honor to ensure that my friend and my mentor and my predecessor's legacy lives on through the John Lewis Civil Rights Fellowship within the Fulbright program, which will give scholars an opportunity to study both the inspiration and the impacts of the civil rights movement internationally.

The John and Lilian Miles Lewis Foundation has been working hard to launch this program as a tribute to Congressman Lewis' impact on social and political change around the world.

Congressman Lewis himself was shaped by his study of nonviolent civil rights movements from around the world, most notably, the philosophy and tactics of Mahatma Gandhi, whose very words were ``it is either nonviolence or nonexistence.''

Of course, people across the globe have been inspired by the tactics of the United States' civil rights movement, many led by Congressman John Lewis himself. From the lunch counter sit-ins of the early 1960s, to the 1961 Freedom Rides, to the 1965 march across the Edmund Pettus bridge, Mr. Lewis taught the world that the most powerful way to bend the moral arc toward justice is rooted in the discipline of nonviolence.

But for all of his experiences and impact at home, Congressman Lewis always wished that he would have had the opportunity to study abroad.

Creating the John Lewis Civil Rights Fellowship is a full-circle tribute: sending scholars to study Congressman Lewis' inspirations and impacts around the world in his name. We hope this program will unlock a powerful opportunity for students who, like Congressman Lewis, would not otherwise have an opportunity to do research across the globe.

The John Lewis Civil Rights Fellowship will be a beacon for the importance of nonviolence, and I look forward to the incredible academic work and exchange this fellowship will support.

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