Alex Wong/Getty Images
U.S. Rep. John Lewis (D-GA) (R) is presented with the 2010 Medal of Freedom by President Barack Obama during an East Room event at the White House February 15, 2011 in Washington, DC.
Lewis' constituents snapped back at Trump on social media. John Lewis and the hashtags, "defend the fifth," and "Stand with Lewis" were trending Saturday evening, with numerous tweets from locals who posted pictures of the fifth district, with comments for Trump.
Here are a few of those posts:
Lewis represents the Fifth Congressional District in Georgia - an area that includes nearly 750,000 people. Fifty-eight percent of the district is African American. The district includes downtown Atlanta and parts of Fulton and DeKalb counties, and several other sections, according to the Atlanta Journal Constitution.
Lewis also has a decades-long record in service of equal rights. He is one of the six key African-American leaders from the civil-rights movement of the 1960s. He is regularly mentioned with movement luminaries like Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Whitney Young, Jr., of the National Urban League, and James Farmer, Jr., who promoted nonviolent protests to fight segregation.
AP Photo
Leaders of the March on Washington shown with Senator Everett Dirksen, R-Ill., during a visit to the Capitol in Washington on August 28, 1963. From left: Whitney Young, National Urban League; Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Southern Christian Leadership Conference; Roy Wilkins, rear, NAACP; Walter Reuther, United Auto Workers president; and John Lewis, Student Non Violent Coordinating Committee.\
The president-elect has a long history of contentious relations with the African-American community. At the height of his real-estate career, Trump, his father, and their management company was sued by the US Justice Department in 1973 on accusations of discrimination against black people who sought to rent apartments from them.
About 8% of registered black voters chose Trump in the 2016 presidential election, according to exit polls cited by the Pew Research Center, NBC News, and CNN.
Trump's tantrum against Lewis comes on the weekend of Martin Luther King, Jr., day. It followed Lewis' comments that he does not consider Trump a legitimate president, citing Russia's interference in the election. Lewis said, because of that, he would not attend Trump's inauguration. More than a dozen Democratic lawmakers have followed suit.
This is how we feel about @repjohnlewis down here in the GA 5th, a district Donald Trump thinks the congressman is failing #Defendthe5th pic.twitter.com/qZUgrGBBtc
- Jeb Boone (@JebBoone) January 14, 2017Ok, @realDonaldTrump You like big, wonderful things. Check out the new Mercedes Benz Stadium. Not exactly falling apart! #DefendThe5th pic.twitter.com/EpBP7sYdFj
- marcusowens (@marcusowens) January 14, 2017#defendthe5th #StandWithLewis West Midtown #atlanta #livemusic #craftbeer #community pic.twitter.com/BpaO84mRb4
- Kristin LeydigBryant (@ClarityatWork) January 14, 2017🙋Hey @realDonaldTrump - Here's our "crime infested" #Atlanta neighborhood. Btw: We ❤️#JohnLewis! We 😡YOU! @NicholsUprising @summerbrennan pic.twitter.com/f8uqCkOdr5
- EGold (@heartfulmom) January 14, 2017