Get in Good Trouble

John Lewis passed away on July 17, 2020 at the age of 80.

He was the moral compass of the otherwise undisciplined U.S. Congress.

He was the last of the Big Six Civil Rights Activists of our era.

He believed in nonviolent civil disobedience in the model of Martin Luther King and Mahatma Gandhi.

He practiced it throughout his life.

He also had the courage to say "Rioting is not a movement. It is not an act of disobedience. I think it is a mistake for people to consider disorganized action, mayhem, and attacks on other people and property as an extension of any kind of movement."

I have never met him except in the audience when he spoke in public.

But I belong to the same generation.

I was studying in Atlanta when he made headlines in the neighboring state of Alabama arranging "sit ins" in the segregated restaurants. He was beaten up and bloodied. But he never veered into militant reaction.

Talking about the incident later he said, "I was beaten bloody by police officers. But I never hated them. I said thank you for your service".

In 1963, at the age of 23, he was the youngest keynote speaker at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C., where Martin Luther King delivered the famous "I had a Dream" speech.

His commitment to nonviolence was shaped by his southern Christian background.

While leaders from the North, like Malcolm X, were promoting more aggressive approach, John Lewis

stayed away from it. By his own admission, he and his followers were never comfortable with violent confrontations. Although they were not close friends, John Lewis and Malcolm X, had a mutual respect for each other. It was coincidental that Malcolm X was assassinated on John Lewis' 25th birthday.

Martin Luther King spoke about the three evils: racism, poverty and militarism. John Lewis continued his fight against these malevolence.

Leaders come and go. Some evils remain.

Recently, before his death, John Lewis said that he feels the Country is "sliding backwards" with regard to race relations and that racism is still deeply embedded in the American Society.

The only thing we can do is to follow John Lewis famous quote.

"Get in good trouble, necessary trouble, and help redeem the soul of America".