A society that’s at peace with itself

There have been several funeral events for John Lewis over the last few days. There were events in his birth town of Troy, Alabama. There are events in Washington for the next day or so. Then a funeral and burial in Atlanta later this week.

Sunday was a moving event – a horse drawn carriage took Lewis’ coffin over the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma. The path had been strewn with rose petals, representing the blood lost by protesters during Bloody Sunday in 1965. Yes, this is the bridge where Lewis was beaten and his skull cracked and where several other protesters died.

This time Alabama State Troopers saluted.

Marissa Higgens of Daily Kos gathered together some of the videos and photos of the crossing.

There have been several symbolic marches over that bridge since that Bloody Sunday. Many times they’re a part of a celebration when new civil rights legislation is passed. Lewis was usually at the front of the crowd.




Yesterday, after writing the above, I realized it was a good time to watch the documentary John Lewis: Good Trouble. I saw it through sponsorship of the Detroit Film Theater, which ends Thursday.

As the movie played I wrote a few notes. So these are the notes wrangled into full sentences and paragraphs.

Several times we see Lewis watching a video clip of some event of which he had taken part and commenting on it. In one case he said he had not seen the clip before.

Early in the movie Lewis, this civil rights leader, says there are forces trying to take us back to a dark place. We are still in a civil rights struggle. The struggle is again around the right to vote.

We see the infamous event at the Edmund Pettus Bridge where Lewis had his skull cracked. Then there were videos of several other events, including planning meetings for SNCC, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. Lewis was president of the group for three years. During one of these meetings they practiced how to remain nonviolent during lunch counter sit-ins during the 1950s. Those doing the training told the others whenever you can look your opponent in the eyes, especially if they are physically harassing you. “Keep loving those telling us no and beating us. Meet the capacity to inflict suffering with the capacity to endure suffering.”

At the end of three years as the head of SNCC the person elected president of the group spoke a lot about Black Power and the militancy of Malcolm X. That went against Lewis’s nonviolent beliefs, learned under MLK, so he walked away.

So much of what Lewis did was to highlight the inaction of the federal government. He got tired of established politicians saying “wait.”

The movie discussed the rampant voter suppression in the 2018 election in the race for Georgia governor, which Staci Abrams, a black woman, lost.

There are several scenes of Lewis campaigning for others, including Abrams.

His great-great-grandfather registered to vote just after the Civil War. No one in that ancestral line could vote since then until Lewis helped bring about the Voting Rights Act.

We saw the jubilation when the 2018 election returns came in and the Democrats took the House. The first bill passed was about voting rights. It still sits in Moscow Mitch’s files.

The Voting Rights Act was up for renewal in 2006. It passed with broad bipartisan support. Bush II signed it. Then it was gutted by the Supreme Court in 2013. In the aftermath of that every day in the Congress is a fight.

He was elected to Congress in 1986. He’s civil rights icon, and also a legislator. And the conscience of Congress. The movie listed major bills Lewis was instrumental in getting passed or defeating. One bill he got passed was for the National Museum of African American History and Culture.

After that march from Selma to Montgomery that was stopped at the bridge and after Lewis was released from the hospital there was a second march from Selma to Montgomery. This one did the full 50 miles. This time police watched from the side of the road.

After the official part of the film there was a bonus of a Zoom call between Oprah Winfrey and Lewis. This was about 15 minutes (this plus the movie was under 2 hours). One question Winfrey asked was how Lewis managed to keep his principles of nonviolence when he was being harassed and beaten. Lewis replied that we accepted a way of peace and love. As they spit at you remember your training and your love and that you are doing this for others. He was so convinced of the cause he was willing to give up his life.

Other things he said during this discussion: Be prepared to march and to vote. Voting is the most powerful nonviolent tool. Lewis said his goal is to see a society that’s at peace with itself. While he was in SNCC and marching the group became the beloved community.