The lions roared on July 17th. It was a very sad day as we saw the deaths of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. colleagues Reverend C.T. Vivian and Congressman John Lewis.
Dr. King is historically one of America’s greatest orators and in his brief 13 years of leading the Civil Rights Movement, he was also quite the organizer and mentor. He once said about his staff, “I have to have wild horses that I can train and are not afraid.” And so they were.
Congressman John Lewis was arrested 40 times, five times as a Congressman. He marched and marched and marched and marched and marched and marched.
He was part of the marchers who had the physical overt signs of segregation in America removed. He took the signs down forever that separated Blacks and Whites from public places.
He was born to sharecroppers and became a noble voice. His most famous march is crossing the bridge in Selma to get the right to vote. He was 80 years old and he lived boldly and righteously. He lived in the segregated South and his efforts, his marching, his legislation, his voice, brought about change to America.
He did not miss his opportunity to speak and be heard. He served as Congressman of Atlanta. Lewis was elected 16 times to Congress, serving from 1988 to his death. His first election was a close one as he ran against Julian Bond.
Lewis heard King’s voice on the radio and met King for the first time when he was 18. His life changed. He was a theology student and in 1961, was one of the 13 original Freedom Riders.
He worked with determination and purpose. He was diligent. He went up against racism face-to-face and was often physically harmed. He entered the “whites only” space and was attacked and beaten several times.
In his civil rights activity, he was beaten with baseball bats, chains, lead pipes and stones. He was arrested. Often, he thought was going to die. He was committed to non-violence, though.
Lewis was a founding member of the Student Nonviolence Coordinating Committee (SNCC) He led voting rights campaigns. In 1963 as chairman of SNCC he was one of the “Big Six” organizers of the March on Washington, where Dr. King delivered his famous, “I Have a Dream” speech.
Lewis was with the 600 marchers on March 7, 1965 as they crossed the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama. They were met with tear gas, horses and clubs from Alabama state troopers. Lewis was beaten with nightsticks and his skull was fractured. He was scarred for the rest of his life. He, along with Hosea Williams, led the march.
He stood his ground. He fought his fight. He made America better than he found it. He was consistent. He was brave and gutsy and determined. He spoke up where he saw wrong and he worked to correct the social ills of his day. We are blessed to have had such a man in our midst. His last stand was in Washington with Black Lives Matter painted on the ground in bold letters.
In 1988, Lewis introduced a bill to create a national African American museum in Washington. The bill failed and he continued to introduce it for 15 consecutive years. The bill was finally signed by President George W. Bush in 2003, and the National Museum of African-American History and Culture opened on September 25, 2016.
John Lewis lived a bold life.
