Rep. John Lewis defended Joe Biden’s comments about working with segregationists during his tenure in the Senate.
The Democratic congressman from Georgia is a noted civil rights leader who helped organize the 1963 March on Washington and was one of the original “freedom riders.” Lewis, 79, said Friday that he didn’t find Biden’s remarks distasteful.
“I don’t think the remarks are offensive,” Lewis said. “During the height of the civil rights movement we worked with people and got to know people that were members of the [Ku Klux Klan], people who opposed us, even people who beat us, arrested us and jailed us.”
“We never gave up on our fellow human beings. And I would not give up on any human being,” he added.
VIDEO: Rep. John Lewis with a powerful defense of @JoeBiden: “I don’t think the remarks are offensive. During the height of the civil rights movement we worked with people and got to know people that were members of the klan…We never gave up on our fellow human being…” pic.twitter.com/NvkmurjsBG
— Alan He (@alanhe) June 21, 2019
Lewis also said he is not judging other Democrats who have called for Biden to apologize.
Asked whether fellow Democrats should drop their criticism of Biden, John Lewis said, “No. I’m not going to judge other people and sit in judgement on others.”
— Rebecca Buck (@RebeccaBuck) June 21, 2019
Biden made the controversial remarks to a room of wealthy donors in New York City on Tuesday.
“We got things done. We didn’t agree on much of anything,” Biden said, naming former segregationist Sens. James O. Eastland of Mississippi and Herman Talmadge of Georgia. “We got things done. We got it finished. But today, you look at the other side and you’re the enemy. Not the opposition, the enemy. We don’t talk to each other anymore.”
