Tag Archives: John Lewis

#belovedcommunity, #goodtrouble, #humandignity, Civil disobedience, Civil rights, Peaceful protest, Racial justice

Thank You, Rev. Jackson

“We will honor your life by taking up the work of public theology you showed us.”

Rev. William J. Barber II with Rev. Jesse L. Jackson Sr., in the US Capitol rotunda, 2018

Our Moral Moment, by Rev. William J. Barber II, Mar 7, 2026

I am in Chicago today at the Rainbow Push Headquarters, where Rev. Jesse Louis Jackson gathered the Chicago community on Saturday mornings for decades, to pay my last respects at his final funeral service.

What do you do when a mighty servant of God has fallen? You say, “Thank you,” and you keep the work going.

Thank you, God, for creating, saving, growing, using, and lifting Rev. Jackson to be the servant he was.

Thank you, Rev. Jesse Louis Jackson, for showing us what it looks like for a moral and compassionate leader to know that power should only be used to lift people up, and never to push and shoot people down.

Thank you for teaching us over and over again that the power of life and death is in the tongue.

Thank you for showing us how to take the complex policies in the political suites and make them plain for the people in the streets.

Thank you because when you saw poverty in the fields of the Midwestern farmer or the shacks of the Southern sharecropper or the slums of the city, you didn’t run a regular campaign, but dared to rally a movement vote and said boldly:

“My constituency is the damned, disinherited, disrespected, despised. They are restless and seek relief.”

Thank you, Rev. Jackson, for not only restating their discontent to let them know that someone see them, but registering their votes so they could see their own power.

Thank you, Rev. Jackson, for challenging both parties when you could have gone along to get along.

Thank you for telling the entire society that everybody is somebody because they are a child of God.

Thank you, Rev. Jackson, for telling and showing us then what we need to hear now – that the untapped power of this nation is in the Black, white, brown, Asian, and Native communities that are trampled on. The stones that the builders reject are the only hope for a cornerstone upon which we can rebuild a broken society.

They hold the key to our way out of this mess we’re in.

Thank you for being unapologetically Black but having love and grace and enough sense to always demand a rainbow.

Thank you for teaching us that when Black people and white people and brown people and Asian people are so broke they can’t pay their light bill, we are all Black in the dark. So together we must fight for the light of justice.

Thank you, Rev. Jackson, for teaching us how to…

Love anyhow

Keep on anyhow

“Run, Jesse run” anyhow

Believe in a better America anyhow

Keep hope alive anyhow.

And now, with Yusef, Jesse Jr., Jonathan, Sangrita, Ashley, and your beloved Jackie, we will pick up the baton and will run on anyhow…

Build hope anyhow

Build new rainbow coalitions anyhow

Repair breaches anyhow

Build political power anyhow

Build the beloved community anyhow.

Because we trust God anyhow

The Lord is our light anyhow.

We know that all that matters is that we please and serve God anyhow.

Thank you, Rev Jackson, for letting the Lord use you.

You fought the good fight. You have finished your race. Sleep now, mighty lion. We will see you in the morning.

William J. Barber, II
President, Repairers of the Breach, & Founding Director & Professor, Yale Center for Public Theology and Public Policy. Author, WHITE POVERTY, WE ARE CALLED TO BE A MOVEMENT, THE THIRD RECONSTRUCTION, REVIVE US AGAIN, & FORWARD TOGETHER.

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Democracy under attack, Good Trouble, John Lewis, Local vigilance

PHOTOS: Benicia crowd of 350 made ‘good trouble’ at City Park

GOOD TROUBLE LIVES ON – in Benicia!

By Roger Straw, The Benicia Independent, July 20, 2025

 

Good Trouble in Benicia. Photo: Mary DeShaw, ProBonoPhoto.org

A large crowd of Benicians & Vallejoans joined the nationwide protest honoring the late John R. Lewis and protesting the Trump administration.  On July 17, about 350 gathered around the Gazebo in City Park with creative signs, chants and cheers, good music, fabulous speakers, voter registration, a food drive – and even a bubble machine!

“Ordinary people with extraordinary vision can redeem the soul of America by getting in what I call good trouble, necessary trouble.” – John Lewis

SLIDESHOW – scenes from the event…
[Many thanks to Benician Mary DeShaw of ProBonoPhoto.org for the photos.]

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The local action in Benicia was part of Good Trouble Lives On — a nationwide day of peaceful, nonviolent action rooted in the legacy of the civil rights movement and inspired by John Lewis’ call to make “good trouble, necessary trouble.”

Participants from Vallejo and Benicia gathered to demand an end to the authoritarian attacks on our freedom to vote, protest, and organize — and to stand united against efforts to criminalize our communities, roll back our rights, and slash vital public programs.

The event was cosponsored by Vallejo-Benicia Indivisible, League of Women Voters Solano and the Vallejo-Benicia AAUW, along with organizers of  Benicia’s EVERY Thursday 5-6pm vigil for democracy.

Speakers included Rami Muth of League of Women Voters Solano; Dr. Tonia Lediju, Vallejo City Council; Kari Birdseye, Benicia City Council; Rev. Dr. Mary Susan Gast, Benicia Poet Laureate Emerita; and Helen-Marie ‘Cookie’ Gordon, Vallejo City Council.

Roger Straw, The Benicia Independent

It was a joyful but demanding crowd. 350 of us stood united in calling for an end to the Trump administration’s many moves to end our beautiful multicultural democracy.

Roger Straw
The Benicia Independent

Democracy under attack, Good Trouble, John Lewis, Local vigilance

Kari Birdseye – Good Trouble Lives On

City Councilmember Birdseye delivers a rousing and personal speech at “Good Trouble Lives On” rally in Benicia – honoring the late John R. Lewis and protesting the Trump administration

By Kari Birdseye, July 17, 2025 

Kari Birdseye, Benicia City Councilmember, Good Trouble Lives On, July 17, 2025 | Photo: Mary DeShaw, ProBonoPhoto.org

Friends and neighbors from Benica, Vallejo and beyond…

We gather today to honor a giant of the American conscience, a moral compass who guided us through turbulent waters: Congressman John Lewis. He famously said, “If you see something that is not right, not fair, not just, you have a moral obligation to do something about it.” These are not merely words; they are a call to action, a blueprint for a life lived with purpose and courage.

John Lewis understood that the fight for civil rights was not a single battle, but an ongoing struggle, a relay race where each generation must carry the torch forward. He bore witness to unspeakable brutality, yet he never succumbed to bitterness or despair. His life was a testament to the power of persistent advocacy, to the belief that “We are one people, one family. And we cannot turn against each other. We have to turn to each other.”

Today, as we reflect on his legacy, we must also confront the echoes of past injustices in our present reality. The civil rights we hold dear, the very foundations of equality, are once again under assault. We have seen a systematic dismantling of protections, particularly impacting reproductive rights and the broader spectrum of equality for all.

Under the current administration, we have witnessed a relentless chipping away at reproductive freedom. The overturning of Roe v. Wade was a devastating blow, stripping away a fundamental right that had been enshrined for decades. We see efforts to restrict access to essential healthcare, to dictate personal medical decisions, and to deny individuals autonomy over their own bodies.

John Lewis was my Congressman when I was compelled to take my first volunteer job in Atlanta Georgia for NARAL, the National Abortion Rights Action League, now called Reproduction Freedom for All.

Now this was in the early to mid-1990’s when anti-abortion zealots were bombing clinics and  pro-choice activists were combating increased restrictions on abortion access and defending the Roe v. Wade decision. In 1992 March for Women’s Lives drew hundreds of thousands to Washington D.C. to protest a Supreme Court case, Planned Parenthood v. Casey, that was perceived as potentially overturning Roe v. Wade.

Well here we are, set back even farther today. This is not merely a legal debate; it is a profound civil rights issue, deeply connected to a woman’s right to control her destiny, her health, and her future.

As John Lewis said, “Freedom is not a state; it is an act. It is not some enchanted garden perched high on a distant plateau where we can finally sit down and rest. Freedom is the continuous action we all must take, and each generation must do its part to create an even more fair, more just society.”

Beyond reproductive rights, the principles of equality for all have also faced significant challenges. We’ve seen attempts to roll back protections for LGBTQ+ individuals, to undermine diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives and to create an environment where certain communities feel marginalized and threatened.

The very concept of “equal application” has been weaponized to justify discrimination, rather than to eradicate it. This is a betrayal of the ideals John Lewis fought so valiantly for. He believed in a beloved community, where “We must respect the dignity and worth of every human being.”

I had the honor and pleasure of shaking Congressman Lewis’ hand at an anti-gun violence rally in Vallejo in 2018, two years before we lost him. He was just as committed to good trouble then as he was when he was a key organizer and speaker at the 1963 March on Washington, where King delivered his famous “I Have a Dream” speech.

So, what would John Lewis say to us today? I believe he would urge us to get into “good trouble, necessary trouble.” He would remind us that our “vote is precious, almost sacred,” – every single one of us. He would tell us not to be silent in the face of injustice, but to speak up, speak out, and make some noise.

The fight for civil rights is far from over. Let us carry his torch forward, ensuring that the promise of liberty and justice for all is not just a dream, but a lived reality for every single person in this nation.

Let us continue to strive for that more perfect union, where true equality reigns supreme. Let’s make some good trouble and some great noise. Thank you.