Congressman Lewis did an excellent job capturing the push and pull of history, the struggle between those who want to move humanity forward against those who would pull us backward.
We are living in a time when that struggle as old as our species in on full display, impossible to ignore and the future of our country and quite possibly our planet is at stake.
Unlike so many other political leaders, Congressman Lewis did not just call for more electoral action, but he called for more and other elements of movement. “A new generation of activists has made it clear that the unfinished work of Selma, of Birmingham and of Greensboro will continue today in Ferguson, New York and Cleveland. We raise our voices to say that we will not allow our progress to be rolled back, that we will continue to march forward and that we know the unavoidable truth that black lives matter.”
The Congressman is so very right. We must vote, but it is not enough to vote. We need struggle that builds toward a powerful movement based on the values that propel humanity forward– the values of justice, love, compassion, peace, human dignity and respect, love of our planet, economic justice both here and around the world.
Americans just like you have done the impossible so many times before. Right now we are called on to do what we know is possible.
• 650,000 Americans died in a civil war to end slavery.
• Women marched to win the right to vote.
• Workers and their families were shot down, or beaten to death, or starved out across America to win the right to collective action and to build unions. They died in places like Homestead, Ludlow, Chicago, Tennessee, Arkansas, and in the Mississippi Delta.
• LGBT people were beaten to death and ostracized and disowned in their continuing struggle to be the people that they are.
Do not wait for others. Others may be waiting for you.