Lawrence Jones: John Lewis 'always had the heart of the young people'

Civil rights icon John Lewis always "had the heart" of America's youth, Fox Nation host Lawrence Jones said Saturday.

In an interview on "Fox & Friends Weekend," Jones said that in his time as a Young Democrat, Lewis would always stand up for people his age.

JOHN LEWIS, CIVIL RIGHTS ICON, CONGRESSMAN FOR 33 YEARS, DEAD AT 80

"I’ve known the congressman since I was a little boy and I was a Young Democrat. I would find myself getting in these fights with -- before I switched over to the other side -- with a lot of the leadership back in the day," he recalled. "And John Lewis was one of the people that always had the heart of the young people."

Jones told the "Fox & Friends" hosts that Lewis,  a longtime Democratic congressman from Georgia, would tell him stories about former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Andrew Young and Dallas civil rights leader Rev. Peter Johnson, and the founding of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee.

"And, you know, they were the young people that were kind of mischievous back in the day when Dr. King was doing his nonviolent protests and things," he said. "They would switch the signs on the [segregated] water fountains. They had their own way of doing things, but they also stressed being nonviolent."

Jones remembers Lewis as "one of those young people [who] was able to bring both sides together -- with the help of Rosa Parks -- to kind of get the young peoples’ voice to be heard."

"When I was a young person in the Young Democrats and pushing against some of the status quo things, John Lewis was one of the voices that said, ‘No, we need the young people [as] a part of this conversation. They are the future,'" he noted.

Lewis, 80, died Friday night after serving 33 years in the House. Doctors diagnosed Lewis with pancreatic cancer late last year.

The congressman's journey took him from protests against Jim Crow laws in the South – including the 1963 March on Washington and the 1965 Selma-to-Montgomery march known as “Bloody Sunday” -- to a long career representing the state of Georgia.

He was only 23 when he joined the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and other speakers outside the Lincoln Memorial as part of the March on Washington. According to The Washington Post, Lewis was the last surviving speaker from the event.

His death comes at a troubled time for an increasingly divided country. Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Americans have taken to the streets to protest racial injustice and police brutality, with some marches turning violent.

"John Lewis was a great man and he was a peaceful man," Jones said. "What we're seeing in these cities is that, you know, there was a cry out for help. Many people that we were starting this conversation about where we need to go when the state abuses its power.

"And then, you have people that were anarchists that took advantage of that movement and calls for defunding the police and calls for the disbandment of the anti-crime unit," he added. "And, we’ve seen the fruits of that now."

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Jones added, "I’ve been on the ground reporting on this stuff, and what we’re seeing is right now in New York, the shooting is up 161 percent. ... Earlier this week I had the opportunity to interview a family of a 1-year-old that was shot and killed.

"But we're at a breaking point. I think the country is sick and tired of this. ... I’ve been preaching about this for years, guys, about the death, poverty, and destruction in these communities. And, I wonder if the leaders are listening."

Fox News' Dom Calicchio, Chad Pergram, and The Associated Press contributed to this report.