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| John Lewis awarded the Medal of Freedom by President Obama (Boston Globe) |
He was willing to put his own life on the line for the cause of true equality in this country, albeit always through peaceful protest - following the example of his mentor, Dr. Martin Luther King. He knew and lived the suffering black people faced in the South because of segregation.
Although in theory the abolition of slavery meant that black people would be treated equally – if separately - ‘separate but equal’ rights were anything but equal back in the 60s. I have no clue in what world segregation in the South could have ever been considered equal. It was a lie so obvious that even a small child could see it. It affected every aspect of their lives negatively depriving black people rights as basic as a decent public school education.
Not to mention the fact that voting rights were all but denied them (although on paper they weren’t) and the indignities they suffered. This is what the Civil Rights Movement was all about. Culminating with the Civil Rights Act outlawing segregation forever.
The cost of getting there was not cheap. People were beaten and killed marching for those rights. At the age of 23, John Lewis was one of those beaten during the now famous march with Dr. King down the Edmund Pettus bridge in Selma, Alabama.
Among those who marched along arm in arm with Dr. King - proudly wearing a Kipa was Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heshel who was at that time an esteemed teacher and mentor to many students at Conservative Judaism’s flagship institution, JTS.
And who can forget Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner, freedom riders from the North – one of whom was black; 2 of whom were Jewish; all of whom were all killed on their way to join their fellow black citizens in the South.
Jewish participation in the Civil Rights Movement did not go unnoticed by John Lewis. This generated a lifelong positive relationship with the Jewish community. He understood that both communities had suffered discrimination over their long history and that both shared the dream of assuring equality for all Americans regardless of race, religion, or color.
Sadly that dream has not yet fulfilled its promise. The murder of George Floyd by a white Minneapolis cop was the last straw demonstrating that we have a long way to go. The segregated South of the past was not the only section of the country that was racist. There was still plenty of it to go around in all sections of the country. That murder has generated massive protests across the country under the banner of ‘black lives matter’. Most of them having the goal of eliminating racism at all levels of society.
Unfortunately some of those protests resulted in violence which undermined their cause. In some cases protest leaders were fighting for defunding and/or dismantling the police. And tearing down statues of American icons.
Cries by some protest leaders about how little progress has been made and how terrible conditions still are for black people was another thing that did not go unnoticed by John Lewis. He quickly reminded the world of all the progress that has been made since the days of the police bashing black heads back in Selma on that ‘Bloody Sunday’. Not the least of which was the election of a black President despite the fact that only 10% of the population is black.
One of the things that made Lewis great is that he was consistent no matter what the consequences. When asked to participate in the Million Man March organized by Louis Farrakhan, he refused to participate despite the huge public platform offered to him - citing Farrakhan’s antisemitism as the reason for refusing.
I want to therefore offer my own salute to this icon of the Civil Rights Movement. He did a lot for this country. If only the radicals trying to tear down this country in the name of racism would use him as their role model- imagine the progress that could be made. Instead of dividing the country they could unite it.