In response to the passing of congressman and civil rights hero John Lewis, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) issued a statement mourning the nation's loss, saying "Congressman Lewis' place among the giants of American history was secure before his career in Congress had even begun ... Our nation will never forget this American hero."
But those words sat poorly with MSNBC contributor Roland Martin, who pointed out that McConnell did everything in his power to make sure Lewis would never live to see the passage of the For The People Act — a major voting rights bill he had championed.
McConnell has referred to the bill, which would have abolished partisan gerrymandering and voter suppression, as "offensive to average voters" and vowed to never let it pass the Senate.
"I know in the midst of all of this, folks don't necessarily want to ... talk about politics," said Martin. "But when I look at last night, the statement of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, which I thought was a worthless piece of paper ... I don't want to hear any Republican today laud Congressman John Lewis, when sitting on his desk is a bill to fix the Voting Rights Act after the Supreme Court's Shelby v. Holder decision, which John Lewis fought for. He died with that bill sitting on McConnell's desk."
"All of these wonderful words about him, for me, mean nothing when they were unwilling, when he was alive, to do what's right," added Martin.
Watch below:
