Jul 17, 20214 min read

Remembering Rep. John Lewis – a veteran & inspirational civil rights leader & hero

TODAY: 8-9 pm Vigils across America remembering Rep. John Lewis – a veteran & inspirational civil rights leader & hero

TODAY - in over 100 locations across America, people will be gathering together in candlelit vigils to honor the memory of Georgia Rep. John Lewis who served our country by his tireless efforts for the cause of civil rights for all people.

You can learn more and find the locations of all the vigils across America at goodtroublevigil.org.

For a closer look at this man, please sit across the table from him in this 7-minute interview:

John Lewis on his book "March" and Getting Into Righteous Trouble to Fight Injustice (07:16)

Watch a 6-minute video about this amazing book – it’s narrated by John and filled with powerful images from this historic work. I see him as the next Marvel Superhero!!!!

“GET IN GOOD TROUBLE, NECESSARY TROUBLE, AND HELP REDEEM THE SOUL OF AMERICA.”

— Rep. John Lewis, speaking at the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama, on March 1, 2020

Long Island Folks

Please join me TODAY – Saturday July 17 from 8 to 9 pm where the LI contingent of the NYS Poor People’s Campaign (part of the national PPC) will be hosting two vigils:

GOOD TROUBLE CANDLELIT VIGILS FOR DEMOCRACY

...on the first anniversary of the death of John Lewis. We will be two of an estimated one hundred vigils across the country honoring the life of John Lewis and calling for support of the John Lewis Voting Rights Act.

· Our Nassau County vigil will be in Garden City, at 223 Stewart Avenue, on the corner of Nassau Blvd. Please plan to arrive at 7:45.

· Our Suffolk County vigil will be at Capitol One Plaza, 116 E. Main St., Patchogue. Please plan to arrive at 7:45 pm.

· There is also a vigil planned by another host in Sag Harbor. For info refer the “goodtrouble” link above

John Lewis: February 21, 1940 – July 17, 2020

Sunrise...

· Marched with Martin Luther King

· Arrested over 40 times – 5 while in Congress

· Rep. John Lewis was the last living speaker from the March on Washington, the 1963 landmark civil rights protest that culminated with Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech.

· Like Dr. King and Gandhi practiced and taught non-violence

· Was an American statesman and civil rights activist who served in the United States House of Representatives for Georgia's 5th congressional district from 1987 until his death in 2020.

· He was the chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) from 1963 to 1966.

· Lewis was one of the "Big Six" leaders of groups who organized the 1963 March on Washington.

· He fulfilled many key roles in the civil rights movement and its actions to end legalized racial segregation in the United States.

· In 1965, Lewis led the first of three Selma to Montgomery marches across the Edmund Pettus Bridge. In an incident which became known as Bloody Sunday, state troopers and police attacked the marchers, including Lewis.

· AUTHOR: In 2013, Lewis became the first member of Congress to write a graphic novel, with the launch of a trilogy titled March. The March trilogy is a black and white comics trilogy about the Civil Rights Movement, told through the perspective of civil rights leader and U.S. Congressman John Lewis. The first volume, March: Book One is written by Lewis and Andrew Aydin, illustrated and lettered by Nate Powell and was published in August 2013,[151] the second volume, March: Book Two was published in January 2015 and the final volume, March: Book Three was published in August 2016.[152]

Wikpedia

Good Trouble Vigils for Democracy

America is at a crossroads.

Six month have passed since the failed attack on our nation and our democracy on January 6th. Since that day, anti-voter laws have been passed in states all over the country and the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent rulings have made clear that it will not act to protect the sacred right to vote. This Summer, Congressional districts risk being redrawn in a way that will allow politicians to choose their voters - rather than the voters fairly choosing who represents them.

We have reached an inflection point in which we must force our elected officials to act now or risk losing the very foundation of our republic.

But there is hope for us to stop this undercurrent of corruption and rebuild American democracy so that the freedom to vote is protected, billionaires don’t control our political systems, and our representatives actually respond to we the people.

To do this, we must pass the For the People Act, the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, and D.C. Statehood - and we can’t let anything, including the Jim Crow filibuster, stand in our way!

Join us for the Good Trouble Vigils for Democracy on July 17 - the one year mark of the passing of Rep.John Lewis - as we carry on his legacy by hosting candlelight vigils nationwide to demand that Congress act to protect our freedom to vote and rebuild our democracy.

We must and will win this Fight!

Poor People's Campaign

Send your elected officials in BOTH parties an email (see below) asking if they are supporting our 3rd Reconstruction Resolution. Introduced into the House of Representatives as H. Res. 438 - it reflects the PPC's Jubilee Platform, which can be found on the PPC website: www.poorpeoplescampaign.org.

FOR ALL PEOPLE: $15 minimum wage, adequate Healthcare & Housing, Guaranteed right to form and join unions, Immigration reform/ending separation of families, and Easier access to voting/ending voter suppression

To send your email NOW or for more info, go to: https://www.3rdreconstruction.org/

Tell Us Your Story

AND, please let us know how YOU PERSONALLY have been hurt by any of the above or any related injustices. Go to: https://www.nysppc.org/#regions, complete the “Contact Us” form, click “Submit.”