The feud between Donald J. Trump and Civil Rights icon Representative John Lewis reached a climax when Lewis dismissed the President-elect as unfit to serve as Presidentjoining the growing list of Democratic lawmakers that will not be attending the inauguration ceremony.
“I don’t see this president-elect as a legitimate president,” Rep. Lewis told CBS News. “I think the Russians participated in helping this man get elected. And they helped destroy the candidacy of Hillary Clinton.”
Trump immediately lashed out in return at “all talk” Lewis in a series of tweets. The most recent backlash came from the slapstick comedy actor Rob Schneider, of all people, who bizarrely felt it was his duty to criticize Rep. Lewis' ploy to boycott the inauguration as well as “clear up” how Martin Luther King Jr. accomplished the advancement of Civil Rights.
Rep. Lewis. You are a great person. But Dr. King didn't give in to his anger or his hurt. That is how he accomplished & won Civil Rights.
— Rob Schneider (@RobSchneider) January 16, 2017
Schneider's decision to “whitesplain” Lewis on the topic of MLK was met with a swift backlash on Twitter. Judging by a number of Schneider's silly but racially stereotyped character performances, it's doubtful that he completely understands the Black community's fight for Civil Rights.
Rep. John Lewis marched alongside Martin Luther King at the historic March on Washington in 1963, paving the way for the end of segregation and promoting civil rights in America. As one of the “Big Six,” Lewis helped organize the pivotal rallies and personally knew King better than most ever did. Lewis was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor possible, for his efforts.
No one can accurately know exactly how MLK would respond to any present situation, however, in a letter he wrote from the Birmingham Jail on April 16, 1963, he expressed the necessity of political tension.
“I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the [Black community]’s great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen’s Counciler or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate, who is more devoted to 'order' than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice.”
