Barack Obama reminds us of ever-present threat of voter suppression in John Lewis eulogy

On Thursday, during a eulogy for the late Rep. John Lewis in Georgia, former President Barack Obama took aim at the current administration and criticized an ever-present threat to our democracy: voter suppression.

"...there are those in power who are doing their darnedest to discourage people from voting, by closing polling locations, and targeting minorities and students with restrictive I.D. laws, and attacking our voting right with surgical precision, even undermining the postal service to an election that's going to be dependent on mail-in ballot so people don't get sick," said Obama during his eulogy of Lewis.

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Obama said he was cognizant that some people would probably rather he not dwell on politics during the former Congressman's funeral. But to ignore it would undermine what Lewis spent his life advocating for.

"John Lewis devoted his time on this Earth, fighting the very attacks on democracy and what's best for America that we're seeing circulate right now," Obama said.

Indeed, during a march for voting rights, Lewis was brutally beaten and almost died as he led marchers across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in 1965.

A bill to restore the Voting Rights Act, named after Lewis, has passed the House but is still waiting for Senate approval.

“You want to honor John? Let's honor him by revitalizing the law he was willing to die for," Obama said in reference to the act. "Naming it the John Lewis Voting Rights Act, that is a fine tribute. But John wouldn't want us to stop there, just trying to get back to where we already were."

The former president also encouraged people to tap into their talents to keep our democracy alive.

"He knew that every single one of us has a God-given power and the fate of this democracy depends on how we use it," Obama said. "That democracy isn't automatic. It has to be nurtured."