John Lewis, marching on.
Saturday, July 18th, 2020
There’s the public grief, there’s the political manifestations of grief, and then I’m sure there’s a very private sort of grief that is reserved for the immediate family of our Congressman. Our grief, though personal, is at a certain remove…we’d see John and his good works, but we were not there marching by his side, except maybe in spirit.
For us, Congressman Lewis was one of those forces of nature that, when we saw his efforts manifest themselves, working a jubilant crowd in an Atlanta neighborhood, meeting and inspiring a youthful generation of activists at DragonCon or Comic Con with his (three-part!) graphic novel that told his story and through that, the story of a vitally important movement or, seeing him seated with his fellow protestors on the floor of the House of Representatives itself, pushing hard for gun control legislation in the wake of yet another mass shooting…we could say “that’s the guy who represents us.” “That’s the guy who’s there for all our neighbors.” “That’s a guy who is not in it to make a killing in the stock market on the side.” “There’s John Lewis.”
As you well know, he died Friday, the same day that another veteran civil rights fighter, C.T. Vivian passed away.
I’ll sure miss seeing him…there.
