Congressman John Lewis, who died on Friday, proved again and again that politician Twitter can rise above angry, hateful thuggery.
His own timeline was a regular source of wisdom and inspiration, especially around racial issues. Lewis was a hell of a speaker, and the thundering power of his words translated easily into the short, soundbite-friendly format imposed by Twitter's character constraints.
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Lewis also understood that Twitter is a place to get personal, and to share in life's simpler pleasures. His status as a beloved public figure afforded him extra attention even when he wasn't using his digital platform to try to heal the world.
That's how a tweet about hanging out with some cats scored almost 12,000 likes and more than 45,000 replies
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Then there are the times that Lewis himself, an utterly magnetic figure, went viral for one reason or another. Who doesn't remember his tearful 2016 acceptance speech after the graphic novel March: Book Three, part of an autobiographical trilogy about the late Congressman's Civil Rights work, won a National Book Award?
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Or how about the time he cosplayed as himself at Comic-Con, like the legend that he is?
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A couple years later, in 2018, cameras captured Lewis dancing to the song "Happy" at a campaign event for Stacey Abrams. And the internet immediately rejoiced.
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In one of the last interviews he sat down for prior to his death, which followed a false rumor that he'd died, Lewis chatted with Oprah Winfrey. She shared a clip from that interview on Saturday morning.
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