Celebrate the life of a man who spent his helping others. John Lewis was the legend you never knew.
John Lewis (Feb. 21, 1940-July 17, 2020) was a trouble-maker. Good trouble. He’s one of the most famous, most influential people you may not know. He’s the guy in the background, but always pushing forward. Over the shoulders of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. President Barak Obama. Presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy.
Leiws was the last remaining leader from the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and ‘60s. He will lay in State in our nation’s capital this afternoon. An auspicious send off for a man who preferred leading the action rather than racing to limelight.
If you see something that is not right, not fair, not just, you have a moral obligation to do something about it.
–John Lewis
Lewis ascended from humble son of a sharecropper to a 17-term Congressman. His fearlessness and tirelessness allowed him to face beatings and monstrous police brutality in order to achieve the greater good.
Understanding Lewis’ passion, his life’s work, will increase understanding the Black Lives Matter movement. Much like BLM and the death of unarmed George Floyd, the Civil Rights Movement, in a march led by Lewis, took a pivotal turn because of the protest against a police killing.
On March 7, 1965, Lewis solidified his dedication to the movement with a rebellion whose images captured changed American perceptions. He led 600 non-violent marchers across a bridge in Selma, Ala., before being brutally attacked by local State troopers.
Much like Black Lives Matter, the marchers were protesting the death of an unarmed man. Jimmy-Lee Jackson, a 26-year-old church deacon, was shot and killed by white state trooper, James Bonard Fowler.
While the comparisons to George Floyd’s death are undeniable, Lewis liked to caution those who felt little change had been made
Sometimes I hear people saying, ‘Nothing has changed.’ Come and walk in my shoes.
–John Lewis
Recognizing the passion and promise of this new generation, Lewis gave Black Lives Matter his blessing. It was a symbolic gesture. Passing the torch.
