Rep. John Lewis remembered at Good Trouble Lives On event

WESTPORT | Several Adirondack organizations are teaming up and inviting community members and visitors to participate in Good Trouble Lives On—A National Day of Non-Violent Action on July 17 to continue the civil rights and racial justice movement that the late United States Congressman John Lewis helped lead as a young man more than 60 years ago and whose legacy inspires non-violent pro-democracy action to this day. July 17 is the fifth anniversary of Rep. Lewis's death. In his memory, people of all walks of life and backgrounds will come together in the North Country and across the country to defend our democracy and carry forward his legacy of Good Trouble. Locally participating organizations include Adirondack Voters for Change, John Brown Lives!, Show Up Saranac Lake, and Letters for Ceasefire. Good Trouble Lives On will begin with the unveiling of Congressman Lewis' portrait and twenty-four others from Robert Shetterly's expansive Americans Who Tell the Truth installation sponsored by John Brown Lives! at the John Brown Farm State Historic Site. The unveiling will take place from 3 to 4 p.m. and include select readings from writings of Lewis and other truth-tellers featured in the exhibition. Starting at 4 p.m., people will walk together from the Farm down John Brown Road (0.6 miles) to participate in a Good Trouble Lives On Honk & Wave from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m., where John Brown Road, Old Military Road, and NY State Route 73 intersect. Brief History of John Lewis The son of sharecroppers, Lewis was born in Alabama in 1940. Described as the "heartbeat of the Civil Rights Movement," he was inspired by the activism of Rosa Parks and the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. He was a Freedom Rider trying to end segregated busing in the South and helped organize the March on Washington in 1963. Speaking from the podium that day, Lewis directly admonished the Kennedy administration for not protecting "the young children and old women who must face police dogs and fire hoses in the South while they engage in peaceful demonstration." On the infamous Selma to Montgomery march for voting rights across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in 1965, Lewis was brutally attacked and beaten, his skull fractured, by Alabama State Troopers. In 1986, he was elected to three terms in the U.S. House of Representatives, where he championed civil and voting rights, health care, and protection for veterans and vulnerable families until his death in 2020. Americans Who Tell the Truth Shetterly's Americans Who Tell the Truth portraits will be on display on the grounds of the John Brown Farm through October. John Brown Lives! is planning film screenings, community conversations and other special programs to complement the installation, including a conversation with the artist at JBL!'s Welcome Table on Aug. 2. For learn more about Rep. Lewis, go to: nmaahc.si.edu/explore/stories/john-lewis. For more about Americans Who Tell the Truth: americanswhotellthetruth.org. For more information about the July 17th events, email John Brown Lives! at info@johnbrownlives.org, text 518-744-7112 or contact Adirondack Voters for Change at adirondackvotersforchange@gmail.com.

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Rep. John Lewis remembered at Good Trouble Lives On event

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