Congressman John Lewis lent his voice and support to the hundreds of immigration rallies that took place around the nation this past weekend, calling for Americans to remember that “we are all human beings.”
“We are one people … one family, we all live in the same house,” Rep. Lewis (D-Ga.) said at an immigration rally in Atlanta on Saturday. “It doesn’t matter if you are black or white, Asian-American or Native-American.”
The rally that he attended was one of more than 600 across the country for “Families Belong Together,” a day-long protest of the Trump administration’s zero tolerance immigration policy that formerly separated children from their parents.
The Civil Rights icon, who was the youngest speaker at the 1963 March on Washington, has already condemned the Trump administration’s policy in a letter last month, USA Today reports.
“There is no such thing as an illegal human being,” he told the crowd. “We are all humans.”
Lewis also encouraged the crowd to do what they must in order to push back against hate, The Root reports.
“Look, you know, I’ve been talking for some time and getting in trouble,” he said. “It’s time for some of us to get in good trouble, necessary trouble.”
He added: “In the final analysis, we may have to turn America upside down to set it right side up, but whatever we do, do it in an orderly, peaceful and nonviolent fashion.”