John Lewis, His Legacy and Fight for Civil Rights
by Anthony Arnold
July 2020
Today is a day filled with sorrow. For with the death of John Lewis, America has lost one of its remaining tethers to the Civil Rights era. And so it is good and proper that we mourn. His voice is one that cannot be easily replaced, and in these turbulent times the void that is left behind will be felt most acutely. But when the tears have stopped, the work will still be there.
As is common when any great figure dies, and Lewis was truly a titan, the next few days will be filled with sparkling biographies and glittering profiles. Friends and enemies alike will offer praise. What will be less common, but it is perhaps more necessary, is figuring out how to apply the principles of his life to our current moment.
If Lewis was the moral center of Congress, and the beating heart of our nation, then we are the body. If he was the engine, then we are the vehicle. And so we are obliged to ask “Where was he taking us?”
James Baldwin, another of America’s great moral guides, wrote that “To be black in this country and to be relatively conscious is to be in a rage almost all the time.”
John Lewis was the embodiment of the idea in that quote. He never stopped fighting. He never stopped striving. He was never satisfied. He recognized that no matter how far we ever came, the battle would never be won.
The trend towards inequality is an unceasing reality of human existence. All societies, and all people, seem to always be drifting in one way or the other towards a state of affairs that sees some of us placed at the mercy of others. James Baldwin, John Lewis, Dr. King, Malcolm X and countless other figures of that time seemed to recognize this. I imagine Susan B. Anthony, Maya Angelo, and Coretta Scott King did too.
But as opposed to feeling hopeless in the face of such adversity, we should instead take solace. The feelings we feel? The obstacles we face? These things are normal. Every great leader has stared down the enormity of what they are trying to accomplish and felt unsure. It is ok to feel frustrated at times. It’s quite another to let that frustration develop into apathy. John Lewis tasted defeat. As the blows rained down, it’s worth imagining what it must have been like to be in that position. To simply be fighting for the same rights as others and to be treated with hatred, hostility, and violence. To be beaten, bloodied, and bruised simply for demanding equality.
And yet, even that was not enough to deter him.
If there was a cause that he believed worth fighting for, then the odds were strong that he would be somewhere near the front lines. Until the very end, while fighting an opponent too great even for him, he could still be found leading from the front.
Lewis’ death, while tragic, should serve as a moment of reflection. We are all weary. We are all wounded. Our country is facing an uncertain future, and the road ahead is filled with challenges.
But the fight for a “more perfect Union,” as first conceived hundreds of years ago, has always been a struggle. John Lewis showed us how to fight, he showed us the causes worth fighting for, and then he spent his life taking a nation’s hand and leading us.
"Freedom is not a state; it is an act. It is not some enchanted garden perched high on a distant plateau where we can finally sit down and rest. Freedom is the continuous action we all must take, and each generation must do its part to create an even more fair, more just society.”
Those words still ring true. So when the sadness begins to lift, and we start to wonder how to best honor his life, don’t look back. Look forward, march towards justice, and remember that wherever the fight for human dignity goes, John Lewis will be by your side.