John Lewis

Photo Credit: Obama White House

I had a different post I wanted to put out today but, instead, I felt compelled to share a few thoughts about John Lewis’ posthumous Opinion piece that was published in the New York Times yesterday. Written a couple of days before he passed away, it’s his final message to us all, and it speaks to the underlying ideals and principles that guided him through almost the entirety of his life. 

So, today, I thought I’d share a few excerpts from that piece and my thoughts as to why those excerpts, specifically, resonated with me. Sorry if this comes across as a bit rambling, but it just struck me at different levels throughout.

Awakening.

“Emmett Till was my George Floyd. He was my Rayshard Brooks, Sandra Bland and Breonna Taylor. He was 14 when he was killed, and I was only 15 years old at the time. I will never ever forget the moment when it became so clear that he could easily have been me. In those days, fear constrained us like an imaginary prison, and troubling thoughts of potential brutality committed for no understandable reason were the bars.”

I’m trying to imagine that moment - the moment when he realized that it could have been him, that the world wasn’t quite as ‘good’ or ‘safe’ as he originally thought. That he couldn’t be protected outside the confines of his family, his immediate community. And then to understand, accept and live with that fact as a reality from thereon in. Except, of course, he didn’t accept it. He actually decided to do something about it. 

I think so many of us would have simply accepted it, or reacted in different ways, sometimes destructive. But John Lewis chose differently. 

Salvation

“If we are to survive as one unified nation, we must discover what so readily takes root in our hearts that could rob Mother Emanuel Church in South Carolina of her brightest and best, shoot unwitting concertgoers in Las Vegas and choke to death the hopes and dreams of a gifted violinist like Elijah McClain.”

This is so hard to fathom, because it isn’t just in that church in South Carolina, or the concert in Las Vegas or the countless other places where such heinous acts took place. It’s also in the smaller, unnoticed behaviors that take place in our everyday lives. Their outcomes may not be as terrible but the intentions - “what so readily takes root in our hearts” - are the same. They start from the same place and they fester and grow into whatever they become, sometimes extreme, sometimes less so. 

But it’s getting to the heart of it that is so crucial. Understanding that in ourselves - and it has to, it can only begin with ourselves - is the starting point. We are not perfect, and we will never be. But there are some things we need to continue striving for, as a nation, as a community, as a family, as individuals. This is one that begins with us. 

Act

“When you see something that is not right, you must say something. You must do something. Democracy is not a state. It is an act, and each generation must do its part to help build what we called the Beloved Community, a nation and world society at peace with itself.”

I’m an immigrant, and it isn’t lost on me what the freedoms we talk about in America, the democracy we experience, means. It does mean something, and I can sense the tangible difference between here and elsewhere, including places I’ve personally experienced. It may not be perfect, it is very definitely a work in progress, but there’s a real, material value to it.

But even as an immigrant (and I wonder for those who’ve had the privilege of being born into and growing up in it), I do find myself quickly accepting it and taking it for granted. So do so many others, though that isn’t to excuse myself - because we believe it to be permanent and that we can simply exist within it. 

The reality, as Lewis reminds us, is that that isn’t the case. Democracy is an act, and we must do. We need to participate. We need to consistently remind ourselves of that and take action. We may have the right not to vote, but that doesn’t mean it’s right not to vote. In so doing, we need to remind ourselves of our universal values and foster our community, to ensure that our community is indeed beloved and that we learn to be (and practice being) at peace with ourselves.  

Democracy is an act, and we must do. 

Hope

“When historians pick up their pens to write the story of the 21st century, let them say that it was your generation who laid down the heavy burdens of hate at last and that peace finally triumphed over violence, aggression and war. So I say to you, walk with the wind, brothers and sisters, and let the spirit of peace and the power of everlasting love be your guide.”

You know, I generally don’t have much time for politicians. While they’re necessary, I can’t escape the sense that what they actually are is a necessary evil. Too many compromises, too many conflicts, too many disappointments. 

But every so often, you get the sense that a few are different. That they’re guided by something beyond the material, that their values never got lost in the mire of give-and-take, and cynicism, and self-interest. Folks who actually stood for something. Folks who were willing to give their lives for something. Folks who believed in something. 

No, they weren’t perfect. None of us are. But they thought more, risked more, and did more for a set of universal values.  I get the sense that John Lewis was one of that rare breed.