John Lewis (1940-2020)

John Lewis has passed tonight.

From Troy, Alabama, Lewis, the son of sharecroppers, rose to the highest levels of our government to serve with distinction in the United States House of Representatives. 

Along the way, he inspired so many, including me.

Representative Lewis packed a lot of life into his 80-plus years. More life than maybe many have in two or three lives. It was a life focused on service and on humility. Lewis led a life of perseverance and hope. He never quit on this country even when it quit on him. 

He marched with Dr. King. He spoke at the March on Washington as one of the organizing members. His skull was fractured on the Edmund Pettus Bridge on Bloody Sunday.

John Lewis never let the arrests or the beatings or the epithets stop him. He kept fighting for civil rights. 

He didn't stop. Not even close. Not John Lewis. He wasn't done. He kept working, organizing, mobilizing. He kept serving. Moving forward. Making "good trouble" as he called it. He didn't stop when the Civil Rights Act was passed. He kept fighting for equality even as our country continued to demonstrate every reason for him not to be hopeful. John Lewis didn't stop organizing and mobilizing. He kept doing the work. He kept making "good trouble" and pushing forward.

John Lewis was defeated in his first run for Congress, but he didn't stop there. In 1987, John Lewis became a Congressman from Georgia. He never stopped fighting for what was right. John Lewis conducted sit-ins in 2016 on the floor of Congress to protest inaction on gun control.

John Lewis rose one year ago to the date of his death to protest Donald Trump's tweets many deemed to be racist. "I know racism when I see it. I know racism when I feel it. And at the highest level of government, there's no room for racism. It sows the seeds of violence and destroys the hopes and dreams of people. The world is watching. They are shocked and dismayed because it seems we have lost our way as a nation, as a proud and great people."

Just last month, Lewis was still fighting against racism. It was a battle he never stopped. Though very sick with cancer, he showed us what it's like to never stop fighting up to his last breath. 

In many ways, this is the time we need John Lewis the most, but that would be selfish. He's given his blood, his tears, his effort, and everything else...up until his last breath. It's time to rest. He's gone, and we're left to pick up the pieces and keep fighting: just like John Lewis.

"When you see something that is not right, not fair, not just, you have to speak up. You have to say something; you have to do something."

--John Lewis