John Lewis (1940-2020)

Hero is a mighty word, one that rarely stands up to the pressure of those it is thrust upon.  In an era of cameras, of exposes & tell-alls, few figures can stand up to the scrutiny of the descriptor of "hero" as it lands with a "but..." too often.  And yet, it always felt like a weight that John Lewis could bear, a man who could rise to the depth of such a title.

Born the son of sharecroppers in the rural South, Lewis understood segregation from a young age.  As he would later tell, Lewis, a life-long reader, would talk about how Rosa Parks inspired him to go to his local library in Troy, Alabama, with other black teenagers to demand his library card, only to be refused when he was told that the library was for "whites only."  Forty years later, Lewis would come back to that same library for a signing for his book...and finally get his library card.

John Lewis spent so much of his life standing up for dignities that he knew should be his and those of all Black people in this country, understanding the importance of public resistance and standing up for injustice.  He organized sit-ins in segregated Nashville, and was arrested dozens of times throughout his life, frequently for things we would take for granted today.  He was the final living member of the "Big 6" Civil Rights leaders, who organized the March on Washington, where Lewis spoke immediately prior to Martin Luther King Jr's "I Have a Dream" speech.

Lewis would eventually join the federal government that he had seen ignore his cause for far too long in the 1950's.  His first run for Congress ended in failure, but John Lewis was never one who would give up after one go, and in 1986, he was elected to the US House.  Oftentimes joining the government moderates or softens certain politicians' resolve, but not John Lewis.  He continued to stand firm in his quest for social justice.  He wasn't afraid to stand against his own party, particularly opposing the Clinton administration's welfare reforms in the mid-1990's, and was a fierce opponent of the Iraq War.  He led sit-ins on the floor of the House to protest the lack of gun-safety legislation being put forward by Speaker Paul Ryan in the wake of the Orlando nightclub shootings.  And of course, he became one of the most prominent public critics of President Trump, who in many ways represented the true antithesis of John Lewis' moral ethos.

John Lewis died on July 17, 2020, at the age of 80.  America lost a man who could truly be called a hero.  But in a way, John Lewis will never die.  He lives on in the protesters who marched for George Floyd across the country and the world.  He lives on in those who demand access to voting rights, who stand up even when it isn't easy.  He stands tall with every American who sees others suffering and says "enough."  That young teenager understood that it was never just about a library card, but about bringing injustices to light & having the resolve to stand until they were corrected, and fighting even if "we may not live to see the end."

John Lewis passed away on July 17, 2020, but as long as there are people still willing to make "good trouble," the spirit of John Lewis forever stays strong.