Rep John Lewis John LewisTrump to pay respects to Ginsburg at Supreme Court Democrats urge Biden to resist filibuster, court-packing calls Rep. Bill Pascrell named chair of House oversight panel MORE (D-Ga.) on Tuesday delivered a scathing rebuke of President Trump Donald John TrumpSteele Dossier sub-source was subject of FBI counterintelligence probe Pelosi slams Trump executive order on pre-existing conditions: It 'isn't worth the paper it's signed on' Trump 'no longer angry' at Romney because of Supreme Court stance MORE's attacks on a group of minority congresswomen, pointing out that segregationists once told people of color to "go back" to where they came from as they protested for equal rights.

“I know racism when I see it," Lewis said in a House floor speech ahead of a vote to condemn Trump's tweets as "racist." "I know racism when I feel it. And at the highest level of government, there's no room for racism. It sows the seeds of violence and destroys the hopes and dreams of people. The world is watching. They are shocked and dismayed because it seems we have lost our way as a nation, as a proud and great people."

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Lewis later added that "some of us have been victims of the the stain, the pain and the hurt of racism."

"In the '50s and during the '60s, segregationists told us to go back when we protested for our rights," he stated. "They told ministers, priests, rabbis and nuns to go back. They told innocent little children seeking just an equal education to go back. As a nation and as a people we need to go forward and not backward."

Lewis, who has served in Congress for more than three decades, has a decorated history of civil rights activism. He was one of the many protesters to march in Alabama from Selma to Montgomery in 1965 to advocate for expanded voting rights for African-Americans.

He suffered a fractured skull after Alabama state troopers confronted activists in what is now known as "Bloody Sunday."

Lewis's comments on Tuesday came after Trump sparked an uproar by telling four freshman House Democrats to "go back" to the "totally broken and crime infested places from which they came" before speaking out about how the United States should be governed.

Omar came to the U.S. with her family as a Somalian refugee. The rest were all born in America.

"With this vote we meet our moral obligation to condemn hate, racism and bigotry in every form," Lewis said during his speech ahead of the vote.