In the UK, the name John Lewis conjures up for me images of high street department stores, housewares and long elevators, a quick sit-down in the tea room.
In the US, John Lewis evokes a whole different vision. ‘Our’ Lewis was born in 1940 in Alabama. Trained – and ordained – as a Baptist minister and an early advocate for the power of what he called ‘Christian love’ and others call non-violent resistance, he became at 23 the chairman of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee. He stood just behind another young minister, Martin Luther King, Jr., as King delivered his ‘I have a dream’ speech. He marched against segregation and for voting rights – again and again. He was set on by dogs, tear gassed, beaten and arrested again and again. His fellow Georgian, President Jimmy Carter, drew Lewis into using government to further the work for justice. He was elected to the Atlanta City Council then to the US Congress where he served for 34 years, and earned the title of the ‘Conscience of the Congress’.
In the segregated – and violent and dangerous – south of his youth, his parents drilled into him the perils of resistance. He took their plea not to make trouble and turned it into his signature charge to all of us, in the face of injustice, to make ‘good trouble’. On this fifth anniversary of his death, I call up his spirit and challenge: ‘I urge you to answer the highest calling of your heart and stand up for what you truly believe. In my life I have done all I can to demonstrate that the way of peace, the way of love and nonviolence is the more excellent way. Now it is your turn to let freedom ring.’
Annette Atkins
