John Lewis Anniversary Spurs 'Good Trouble' Protests

It is fitting that on Thursday, the fifth anniversary of the death of John Lewis, the civil rights icon and longtime congressman, tens of thousands of people will gather across the country in his name to protest the most vile administration of our lifetimes.

As the organizational site explains, “we are facing the most brazen rollback of civil rights in generations,” hence, “Good Trouble Lives On is a national day of action to respond to the attacks on our civil and human rights by the Trump administration.”

“Together, we’ll remind them that in America, the power lies with the people.”

According to organizers, who confirmed with Axios, some 56,000 people RSVP’d for more than 1,500 events across the country as of Friday.

For a myriad of reasons, Lewis is one of the most ideal political figures to draw inspiration from when standing up to the Trump administration.

Born in rural Alabama in 1940, Lewis, the son of sharecroppers, would ultimately become a prominent leader in the Civil Rights Movement, serving as a key organizer for sit-ins, Freedom Rides, and leading the historic March on Washington in 1963, where he was the youngest speaker. He was later severely injured by Alabama state troopers in a 1965 march for voting rights from Selma to Montgomery. Yet, despite being arrested more than 40 times and injured repeatedly, Lewis remained a steadfast advocate for nonviolent protest.

He later served on the Atlanta City Council before being elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1986, representing Georgia’s 5th District.

As for his infamous quote about getting into “good trouble,” the late congressman would often explain that as a little boy, he lived in constant fear because of signs that said “no colored boys, no colored girls.”

His parents and grandparents used to tell him, “Don’t get in trouble,” but he would later draw inspiration from another Civil Rights icon who changed his perspective.

In December 2019, Lewis spoke at the Library of Congress’s opening of an extensive exhibition, “Rosa Parks: In Her Own Words.”

“Rosa Parks inspired us to get in trouble. And I’ve been getting in trouble ever since,” Lewis said. “She inspired us to find a way, to get in the way, to get in what I call good trouble, necessary trouble.”

A few years before he died in 2020, some of that “good trouble” for Lewis included taking a stand against Trump and all that he represented, rightfully, from the very start.

Days before Trump’s first presidential inauguration in 2017, Lewis appeared on NBC News’ Meet The Press, where he stated that he doesn’t believe Trump is a “legitimate president” and that he doesn’t plan to attend Trump’s inauguration.

When asked why, Lewis answered: “I think the Russians participated in helping this man get elected. And they helped destroy the candidacy of Hillary Clinton.”

Lewis also said that it would be the first time he’d miss an inauguration since he was elected to the House in 1986.

At the time, Trump corrected him on X, formerly Twitter, noting he also skipped the inauguration for former President George W. Bush.

That prompted a spokeswoman for Lewis to confirm that Lewis did indeed skip Bush II’s inaugural, explaining: “His absence at that time was also a form of dissent. He did not believe the outcome of that election, including the controversies around the results in Florida and the unprecedented intervention of the U.S. Supreme Court, reflected a free, fair, and open democratic process.”

Lewis was right to take issue with the legitimacy of both Donald Trump and George W. Bush’s electoral wins. They both effectively cheated one way or another, as far as many of us are concerned, and while many other white media types are finally catching up with the rest of us, as much as folks try to make Trump out to be some kind of outlier in American politics, he and his cronies are essentially dumber, more shameless versions of the corrupt politicians that worked during W’s two terms.

It is no coincidence that those two, along with Ronald Reagan, have all exploited the prejudices of the public to swindle Americans out of their basic needs in favor of tax cuts to the rich.

Nevertheless, Trump never let his beef with Lewis go, and following his death, not only declined to praise Lewis but argued that he had done more for the Black community than Lewis ever did.

“I find a lot of people impressive. I find many people not impressive,” Trump said on Axios on HBO in 2020. “He didn’t come to my inauguration. He didn’t come to my State of the Union speeches. And that’s OK, that’s his right. And again, nobody has done more for Black Americans than I have. He should’ve come. I think he made a big mistake.”

Such pettiness is to be expected by the likes of Sweet Potato Saddam, but only serves as a reminder of the man people are protesting on July 17.

In response to the protests, White House spokesperson Liz Huston said in a statement: “Nearly 80 million Americans gave President Trump a historic mandate to Make America Great Again and he is delivering on that promise in record time.”

I suppose a hefty portion of that 80 million did vote for the construction of migrant detention facilities appropriately described as concentration camps, the decimation of virtually every avenue for Black mobility within the reach of federal government, and the persecution of the most vulnerable among us as part of their obsession with turning the country into a corrupt mess of Christian white nationalism, but they don’t represent the majority.

If they did, there would not be so many protests happening now as the radical Trump administration radicalizes a frustrated public.

For those who find themselves at odds with what is happening in America and why, July 17 is the day to channel your inner John Lewis by using your voice to cause some good trouble in the name of a freer and fairer society.

Thousands will be waiting in all 50 states.

Michael Arceneaux is a New York Times bestselling author whose most recent book, I Finally Bought Some Jordans, was published last March.

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