No one public servant deserves as much credit for fighting for the soul of our democracy as the late Congressman John R. Lewis, who lived his life fighting for civil rights and social equity. He was one of the original 13 Freedom Riders in 1961. As the chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) from 1963 to 1966, he was key to organizing the 1963 March on Washington, where he was the youngest speaker. He had come with the Freedom Singers and comedian Dick Gregory to the University of Iowa to raise money and help us form a local chapter of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). He told the story of being beaten in a stadium, outside a bus station and of the indignities he and the other Freedom Riders had already suffered. He made a lasting impression: he had a preacher’s oratorical chops, but as an organizer he also had the ability to provide shrewd and practical advice.
It was not until 1965 that Lewis and Dr. King led marchers on “Bloody Sunday,” which we have all seen from the old news reels. That band of ordinary people galvanized the world as they tried to march to Tuscaloosa across the Pettus Bridge in Alabama. Lewis was beaten badly and suffered a concussion and a host of other injuries that would bother him the rest of his life. That bridge became a symbol and a marker of the persistence of the civil rights movement. In later years, he would march over that bridge annually in remembrance. In fact, his horse drawn coffin was carried across the bridge as one of the four events held to mourn his death before he was buried. If you look at pictures of that last crossing, you will see the Alabama state troopers saluting
the coffin.
It took 50+ years to accomplish such a change in perspective in the troopers and in much of our society as well. The philosophy then was different than today: for John Lewis, Dr. King and those who stood with them, it was always about non-violence as both a strategy and as a commitment.
Fighting for the Soul of our Democracy
by Annie Searle