So hard to realize that John Lewis's times of protest and necessary actions were not so long ago. And even harder to recognize how much of our civil rights and humane rights have been so recently trampled on by such a corrupt president and MAGA Republican partt.
Very helpful background about the intellectual roots and discipline of his work. Of all the protest events I’ve attended in Chicago, I enjoyed yesterday evening the most. An excellent DJ made musical noise to gather us together and entertain while we waited for the program’s start. The lineup speakers was excellent—local people whose work/experiences are closely related to Lewis’s and could testify to Lewis’s impact while focusing our attention on the good and necessary trouble we should engage now (ICE, targeting of civilian activities by military forces, detentions in concentration camps, deportations, a police state focused on Black and Brown immigrants). The program included young talent from Chicago schools. It was real. Daley Plaza was full of people—numbers seemed to peak about the time that Mayor Johnson spoke—but it wasn’t packed in. I was comfortable and could hear. I‘m grateful for the immersion in the theme of good trouble, much better than Corey Booker’s sound bites from Washington, though they helped prime me. My favorite sign was Thank You, John Lewis.
Beautifully and thoughtfully written. This is something I wish could be widely shared and perhaps republished, used as a "prompt" for discussion as we go about our planning and visioning. Brenda placed John Lewis alongside other activists firmly within the long tradition of thoughtful resistance based on not just current circumstances, but what has been given to us by our forebears. We honor them, we learn from them, and then they turn us loose to adapt what we've learned to what we are experiencing now. This is not random: it grows out of the discipline and commitment of all those before us. The key above all is the love with which we act, and the mindfulness of the consequences of our actions. We know that it works, and our first enemy is not maga, but those among us who try to make us doubt.
Those who follow this advice should then expect to be arrested, right? We should expect police to quickly move in when, say, a vital roadway or college facility is blocked by protesters.
So hard to realize that John Lewis's times of protest and necessary actions were not so long ago. And even harder to recognize how much of our civil rights and humane rights have been so recently trampled on by such a corrupt president and MAGA Republican partt.
Very helpful background about the intellectual roots and discipline of his work. Of all the protest events I’ve attended in Chicago, I enjoyed yesterday evening the most. An excellent DJ made musical noise to gather us together and entertain while we waited for the program’s start. The lineup speakers was excellent—local people whose work/experiences are closely related to Lewis’s and could testify to Lewis’s impact while focusing our attention on the good and necessary trouble we should engage now (ICE, targeting of civilian activities by military forces, detentions in concentration camps, deportations, a police state focused on Black and Brown immigrants). The program included young talent from Chicago schools. It was real. Daley Plaza was full of people—numbers seemed to peak about the time that Mayor Johnson spoke—but it wasn’t packed in. I was comfortable and could hear. I‘m grateful for the immersion in the theme of good trouble, much better than Corey Booker’s sound bites from Washington, though they helped prime me. My favorite sign was Thank You, John Lewis.
Thank you.
Thank you for your insightful writing to learn from other times and "find our own way."
Thank you Brenda
Beautifully and thoughtfully written. This is something I wish could be widely shared and perhaps republished, used as a "prompt" for discussion as we go about our planning and visioning. Brenda placed John Lewis alongside other activists firmly within the long tradition of thoughtful resistance based on not just current circumstances, but what has been given to us by our forebears. We honor them, we learn from them, and then they turn us loose to adapt what we've learned to what we are experiencing now. This is not random: it grows out of the discipline and commitment of all those before us. The key above all is the love with which we act, and the mindfulness of the consequences of our actions. We know that it works, and our first enemy is not maga, but those among us who try to make us doubt.
Those who follow this advice should then expect to be arrested, right? We should expect police to quickly move in when, say, a vital roadway or college facility is blocked by protesters.