John Lewis Gives First Interview Since Death of George Floyd: ‘It Was So Painful. It Made Me Cry’

Civil rights leader Rep. John Lewis (D-GA), who has been battling stage 4 pancreatic cancer, gave his first television interview on Thursday since the death of George Floyd.

In the interview with CBS This Morning, Lewis said that the video of police officer Derek Chauvin kneeling on Floyd’s neck as Floyd protested he couldn’t breath “was so painful” and “made me cry.”

“The way this young man died, watching the video, it made me so sad. It was so painful. It made me cry,” he told host Gayle King. I kept saying to myself, how many more? How many more young black men will be murdered? The madness must stop.”

“And it was very moving, very moving to see hundreds and thousands of people from all over America, and around the world, take to the streets to speak up, to speak out, to get in what I call good trouble,” Lewis continued, adding, “Because of the action of young and old, black, white, Latino, Asian American and Native American, because people cried and prayed, people would never, ever forget what happened and how it happened.”

“It is my hope that we are on our way to greater change. To respect the dignity and worth of every human being, and it doesn’t matter the color, or their background, or whether they’re male or female, gay or straight,” he concluded. “We are one people. We’re one family. We all live in the same house, not just American house, but the world house.”

During the interview, Lewis also revealed that his “health is improving,” adding, “I have a wonderful doctor, nurse, and everybody taking good care of me. I’m very hopeful and very optimistic.”

In December, Lewis announced that he’d been diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer.

“I have been in some kind of fight – for freedom, equality, basic human rights – for nearly my entire life. I have never faced a fight quite like the one I have now,” he said at the time.

Watch above via CBS News.

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