US House Representative John Lewis, 5th District Georgia

You might recognize Lewis as a civil rights hero, at least you should. In Selma Alabama, 1965, John Lewis marched with Martin Luther King , where he endured a grievous racially motivated assault, having his skull fractured by an Alabama State Trooper thug for the offense of protesting peacefully and demanding that black residents of Selma be allowed to vote. The picture at the top of this page shows Lewis (foreground) in the midst of of that violent attack.

Yesterday Representative Lewis tweeted the following in memory of his friend, civil rights icon Martin Luther King, on the anniversary of King’s assassination …

48 yrs ago today, my friend, my brother, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was shot and killed in Memphis, TN. The light of his life still shines.

— John Lewis (@repjohnlewis) April 4, 2016

… and promptly and predictably Representative Lewis was viciously attacked again, only this time rhetorically, by a gaggle of fanatical supporters of presidential candidates Bernie Sanders & Donald Trump seeking to politicize what should have been a solemn moment. Both groups apparently possessed not an ounce of common decency between them. Their primary problem, besides generally being a bunch of shitwitted hobgoblins, was that Rep Lewis has endorsed Hillary Clinton in this year’s Presidential Election.

@repjohnlewis @HillaryClinton pic.twitter.com/RKn20Bqoky

— Trump for President (@lonarace) April 5, 2016

@repjohnlewis @HillaryClinton and he was killed bc he was beginning to make his mvmt “intersectional”, speaking out on war, capitalism…

— Burning4Bernie (@mierdakansada) April 4, 2016

@repjohnlewis anyone else think it’s ironic & sad that the state the great King died in is the same as one of the most liberal states in US?

— Mike Fanelli (@SportsMike22) April 5, 2016

I have no idea what to make of the tweet immediately above, MLK was shot in Tennessee, a very conservative Southern state and bastion of racism during the civil rights era. Remember when Nina Simone sang “Tennessee makes me lose my rest,” she wasn’t talking about the quality of their hotel bedding.

@repjohnlewis @HillaryClinton @SenSanders marched and fought for civil rights while Hillary called black youth “super predators”

— Paul Acøsta |-/ (@paulitareo) April 4, 2016

@repjohnlewis @WhiteHouse pic.twitter.com/RvtGpxcOfU

— Jinx (@JinxClower) April 4, 2016

@repjohnlewis @HillaryClinton Shillary betrayed blacks with mass incarceration of “super predators” & welfare reform pic.twitter.com/qpbodxBxCH

— John Narby (@carpediem1969UI) April 4, 2016

@repjohnlewis Butcher of BENGHAZI!

— Finepix (@finepix) April 4, 2016

@repjohnlewis @HillaryClinton @BernieSanders #FeelTheBern pic.twitter.com/Ak8NaxHEO7

— Gabe Cordoba (@GabeCordoba911) April 4, 2016

That’s not Bernie in the picture tweeted above by the way. That photograph depicts the March from Selma to Montgomery Alabama. The Sanders campaign admitted that isn’t him a long time ago, but his supporters keep posting it as if it’s true. What’s true is that despite frequent assertions there’s absolutely no evidence whatsoever that Bernie Sanders ever actually physically marched with Martin Luther King.

@repjohnlewis @fightfor15 do you remember what MLK said about incarceration rates? Yet you are supporting Clinton?

— Hugh O’Donnell (@groundonfire) April 4, 2016

@repjohnlewis @HouseDemocrats Why lie about Bernie Sanders? You marched with MLK because you, too happened to be black.

— Erlee Pennington (@Erlee2Rise) April 4, 2016

@repjohnlewis @Linda1746 and if he was alive today. He would be ashamed of you for selling him out. Bernie was with him. Not Hillary. Hack

— raphael ligonde (@raphy68) April 4, 2016

@repjohnlewis MLK was a republican you sir were no friend of his he despised democrats the party that started the KKK so stop lying

— wayne hughes (@cowboyfan19267) April 5, 2016

@repjohnlewis @Kris_Sacrebleu HE WASN’T YOUR FRIEND! he was closer to Harry Belafonte, whom backs BERNIE! sit down, old delusional man.

— Mike Hunt (@christianlawre2) April 5, 2016

@repjohnlewis I think he’d be horrified you’re backing a Goldwater girl instead of Bernie Sanders, who mrched with MLK#Sanders2016

— Joan Schaublin (@Joanespring) April 5, 2016

@repjohnlewis @POTUS Greatest Republican God ever created @TheDemocrats @MSNBC @CNN @BarackObama @BET @BETNews @GOP pic.twitter.com/diecDVoBET

— TJ..Troy 4 short :) (@kuhnu2012) April 4, 2016

@repjohnlewis @frangeladuo He would be shamed by your endorsing Clinton over Sanders. That is your legacy. #FeelTheBern @BernDNC

— James Morgan (@jgm2862) April 4, 2016

@repjohnlewis @HillaryClinton pic.twitter.com/crUxYYEpng

— Rhb (@Rhoogesteyn1Ron) April 4, 2016

Anyway this is just a small, curated selection of a much larger and ongoing despicable assault on both Rep Lewis and the very concept of basic human decency. At this point I have to say I’m not at all sorry if the decent supporters of Senator Sanders feel aggrieved by the kinds of association between his and Trump’s campaign that I completely admit to drawing here. Both campaigns draw on populist angst and a disproportionate amount of support from an angry, mostly white voting base that feels disaffected from modern government.

I want to close by saying that despite the parallels I intentionally drew here, unlike Donald Trump I do NOT think either Senator Sanders or his campaign are in fact racist, or for that matter even intentionally catering to racists. However, at the same time the campaign itself is doing next to nothing to try and combat the seething hatred of the Democratic Party that lurks within many of his supporters. He’s doing little to mitigate the damaging lack of respect or basic dignity afforded to Democrats by many of his most fervent supporters.

Like it or not as long as Bernie Sanders plans on using the Democratic Party as a vehicle for his own Presidential ambitions he absolutely will require a significant amount of support of its elected and long standing members, who he must somehow persuade to his side if he’s to be our nominee. You dismiss them as Superdelegates, and hate the powerful role they play with regards to his diminishing chances at nomination, but they also constitute the legislative coalition he will need as President to turn his agenda from rhetoric to reality. The kind of absolutely inexcusable attacks and hijacking of deep personal sentiment that took place against Representative John Lewis yesterday must be condemned in the most explicit terms. If Senator Sanders wants to move forward and become the Democratic nominee he’s going to have to prove he’s actually capable of leading the Party, and that begins with actually proving he can effectively lead and educate his own supporters.