John Lewis

John Lewis, a man of small stature but of immense greatness died yesterday.

The following quote sums the meaning of his life:

“Make good trouble, necessary trouble. Seek justice,” John Lewis

Hi Miki,

I have to admit, I knew not of him. From what I have read he seems a great man.

I just wonder though, is this an age of heroes? None here..... no..... I cannot think of one. All I see, in all western nations is career politicians who are only interested in one project, one vision, one goal......... themselves.

Tom, a British Army Captain who turned 100 recently and raised millions for the NHS is a hero, but he is no political being, bless his heart.

There sure is a lot of uncertainty in the world and the centre ground seems to hold fewer level headed people as politics in the west is shifting wider. The left and right is becoming increasingly further set towards the extremes of left and right.

The British Conservative party is perhaps the only counter to that, they have seized some of the middle ground here and if it were not for Boris' "Whack A Mole" attitude to government, they may have been able to grasp the middle ground fully. Perhaps they still will....

....because Labour has moved so far left, only a truly middle ground shift by the LibDems , giving them renewed impetus, a coalition of a LibLab variety might occur. Unfortunately, the LibDems are as leftist as Labour just now.

I think Joe will win in the USA, I did predict this long before Joe Biden was selected. I hope the Democrats grab that sensible middle ground and realise that they will be elected full power soon enough, by pissed off moderate Republican votersand do not bring a leftist agenda..

Celia xx

There was a sign at a rest stop somewhere in the Deep South (Mississippi[?]); it read 'Coloreds Only' the image of which is firmly etched in my then 10 year old memory when my Father took us on a tour of the US in 1955.

John Lewis made his bones during the '60s when he led the marches in Birmingham (AL, US), Selma, AL, Jackson, MS and New Orleans. He was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1986 and was still a member when he died. I, and most others familiar with who he was still consider him a fighter against bigotry rather than a politician. He was a friend, an active friend, of the LGBTQ community and sponsored several pieces of legislation in our favor

Lewis was one of the original "Freedom Riders": a group of whites and blacks riding in an integrated fashion to protest the segregated buses, rest stops, hotels and restaurants in the South. He was clubbed on the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, AL and had his skull fractured on what has become known as 'Blood Sunday'. He was arrested 40 times protesting Jim Crow law.

John Lewis stood with the leaders of the sixties marches against bigotry. Together with the Freedom Riders, he forged an alliance that came to be known as the Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) which became a favorite punching bag for J. Edgar Hoover (the early head of the FBI and a bigot amongst bigots). Lewis stood with Martin Luther King, Jr. and many others who would likely be unknown except to those who lived the '60s.

There is a good article on who he was and why his life is important @ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Lewis_(civil_rights_leader). Please take the time to read about a good and great man.