Last week the world changed. Last week, John Lewis as C.T. Vivian left this world and moved on to Heaven. Both of these men, these black men, were leaders in the civil rights movement. That term, leaders, doesn’t even begin to describe them and their work to change America. While I want to honor both of them and their work, I am going to spend a bit of time talking about John Lewis.
I won’t spend this time talking much about the work that John Lewis did to change America, much has been written about that (and if you are newer to him, I encourage you to read more about him). Instead, I will talk about him, his legacy, and how it relates to us today. Lin Manuel wrote the following line for his play Hamilton - “what is a legacy? It’s planting seeds in a garden you never get to see.” John Lewis never got to see his garden fully bloomed - he never got to see a country that is just and equitable. A country whose systems are not inherently racist, but instead, systems that honor the dignity of all humans and allow everyone to succeed.
I think about his history and the work that he did to make America more just. I think about the time when he and others tried to talk across the Edmund Pettus Bridge. He was beaten so viciously that he thought he would die. They were beaten, and some murdered, because they wanted fairness and justice. They wanted to be able to live in a world that did not treat them differently because of their skin color.
John Lewis got in trouble, y’all. He got in good, necessary trouble. One of my favorite quotes from his is this: “my philosophy is very simple. When you see something that is not right. Not fair. Not just. Say something. Do something. Get in trouble. Good trouble. Necessary trouble”. I think about what good, necessary trouble looks like for me today. I think about that alongside things like anti-racism, white fragility, unconscious bias, and systemic racism. I think about our history of kidnapping and enslaving black people and the fact that we haven’t reckoned with that yet.
I was listening to an interview between Cory Booker, one of my heroes, and Eddie Glaude Jr. and they talked about trauma and it’s impacts on individuals as well as on America. I do a lot of research on trauma and how it impacts individuals. Trauma, when not addressed, can change our brains, make us sick, and can lead to death. We have ignored our trauma and it has made us sick - the fact that we have not reckoned with our history of slavery and supremacy has made our country sick. It has created these systems I have talked about and allowed for supremacy to continue.
What should good, necessary trouble look like for us? It should look like us talking about racism, supremacy, and systemic racism. It should look like white people using their privilege to work alongside black people to dismantle systems and rebuild them to be equitable and just.
I will end this with another quote from John Lewis:
“never give up, never give in, never give out. Keep the faith, and keep your eyes on the prize. Together, we can redeem the soul of America.”
