House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) said Thursday, January 7, 2021, that the pro-Trump mob that stormed the Capitol Wednesday destroyed a display outside his office honoring the late congressman and civil rights leader John Lewis.
“While rioters shamefully destroyed this tribute to my brother John Lewis yesterday, let his words continue to echo in the halls of Congress and in our hearts,” Hoyer tweeted. “Let us always stand up, speak up, and speak out against injustice and for our democracy.”
The display pictured by Hoyer features a quote from the Georgia Democrat, “When you see something that is not right, not fair, not just; you have to stand up, speak up, speak out, and find a way to get in the way and get in trouble. Good trouble. Necessary trouble.”
The late Lewis frequently used “good trouble” as a term for civil disobedience and activism for social change.
Lewis, who died in July, was frequently invoked earlier this week after Democratic Sens.-elect Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff won a pair of runoff elections in his home state, cementing a 50-50 split in the Senate. Warnock is the first Black senator ever elected from Georgia.
The breach of the Capitol Wednesday cut short a joint session of Congress to certify President-elect Joe Biden’s Electoral College victory and forced a lockdown of the facility. Participants in the pro-Trump riot also vandalized Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-Calif.) office and left trash around the door of Hoyer’s.
Congress reconvened Wednesday night and formally certified the results early Thursday morning.
