ST PAUL, Minn. — Governor Tim Walz announced today he is ordering all flags at federal and state buildings to be flown at half-staff in honor of longtime Representative John Lewis of Georgia, who was announced dead Friday at the age of 80.
The flags are to be flown until sunset on Saturday.
“I will always be grateful to have served in Congress with John Lewis, a civil rights leader who never gave up on building a more fair, more equal country,” the governor said. “His heart, his ideas, and his legacy will forever be etched in history.”
Representative Lewis, an icon of the civil rights movement, helped organize the 1963 March on Washington and became a 17-term United States congressman.
Lieutenant Governor Peggy Flanagan also issued a statement saying, “Representative John Lewis was an extraordinary force for justice, from his organizing work in the streets of Selma to the halls of Congress. While we are heartbroken by his passing, we’re more committed than ever to keep making good trouble on his behalf.”
The Walz Administration is also encouraging non government entities to partake in honoring the life the man whom they describe as "a valiant stalwart of the Civil Rights movement – one of the original Freedom Riders, chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, the youngest speaker at the March on Washington, leader of the march from Selma to Montgomery, and a member of Congress representing the people of Georgia for 33 years."
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