The media attaches "civil rights hero" to "John Lewis" as if the sets of words were Siamese twins. We are incessantly told that John Lewis is a hero. Lewis' biography on his own site begins with, "John Lewis...is a genuine American hero and moral leader who commands widespread respect in the chamber."
Also he's "one of the most courageous persons the Civil Rights Movement ever produced," and "the conscience of the U.S. Congress.”
And he's humble and modest too.
We are told incessantly that Lewis was beaten up back in the sixties. Then he began cashing in on his activism.
He tried for Congress, but didn't get in. As a consolation prize, Carter put him in as associate director at ACTION. ACTION was a messy Federal volunteer agency. What were Lewis' credentials? He had put in his time for the Democrats. And he got his. That's the way the party has always worked.
He left ACTION when it was time to run for office again.
He headed Office of Community Affairs for the National Consumer Cooperative Bank in D.C. Jobs don't get much more made up than that. And the bank? It was funded by taxpayers like you.
Then he got his lifetime job in politics. That was in 1981. The rest is history.
John Lewis has a solid Dem black district. He wins every election with 70 percent of the vote. He has the job for as long as he wants it. This is what life is like for a "civil rights hero".