The fifth anniversary of someone’s death has just passed, and I’m thinking about the giant shadow he cast, for a man who was not especially large physically.
I speak of Rep. John Lewis, who died in 2020. July 17 has now been designated as the John Lewis National Day of Action and Commemoration by such civil-rights organizations as Democracy Now and the League of Women Voters.
Lewis was a U.S. Representative from the state of Georgia, but most people probably remember him from historical footage that has often appeared on television of his beating by Alabama state troopers on the Edmund Pettus Bridge near Selma.
He was participating in a voting-rights protest at the time, and through the rest of his life Lewis spoke out in nonviolent actions on behalf of civil rights.
Not all of us have the courage Lewis had, nor his public-speaking skills in articulating the cause of those less able to speak for themselves. But we need those people, now as much as we ever have, perhaps more.
There are forces, not only in many other countries throughout the world but also here in the U.S, that want to limit everyone’s freedom for their own purposes. They are now doing their best to take away important rights.
On the chopping block some places, for example, are the right to vote and the right of women to control what happens to their own bodies.
All of us need to do what we can to combat these forces that would control people’s lives. If you can’t speak before a group, carry a protest sign, or do other public acts, then write letters to or call your Senators or Congresspersons. Write a letter to the editor of your local newspaper.
Talk to friends or acquaintances about your opinion on a certain issue that’s in the news.
It’s too late to speak up once those important rights are lost. Don’t be among those who will have to say, “I sure wish I had done something while I still had the chance.”