Tag Archives: John Lewis

Democracy under attack, Good Trouble, John Lewis, Local vigilance, Vallejo-Benicia Indivisible

Good Trouble Lives on in Vallejo & Benicia, Weekend of July 17-19 2026

Remembering  John Lewis,  Calling  for  Democracy,  Freedom  &  Justice  for  All

Vallejo-Benicia Indivisible, July 14, 2026

Stand Up for Democracy Rally & Food Drive

When Congressman John Lewis passed away, he left us with a clear directive: “Never, ever be afraid to make some noise and get in good trouble, necessary trouble.”

Saturday, July 18th, Vallejo-Benicia Indivisible is answering that call by participating in a national Good Trouble Day of Action. If you were with us last year, you know how powerful it is when our local community unites to protect our democratic institutions.

Saturday, July 18, 11:00 AM – 12:00 PM
Stand Up for Democracy Rally & Food Drive
At the corner of Admiral Callaghan and Plaza Dr
1175 Admiral Callaghan Lane in Vallejo
(near Home Depot)

The fight to protect voting rights never ends, and right now, we’re witnessing a Jim-Crow-era effort from politicians and their billionaire friends to restrict our freedoms, silence our voices, and consolidate power.

But in America, we choose our leaders. We will decide our future. The same spirit that fueled Selma, Montgomery, and the March on Washington lives on in our unified action.

Six years after the passing of Congressman Lewis, we’re organizing an event in our community to carry the torch, continue the legacy of John Lewis, and pass it forward to future generations. Join us!

We are expanding our standard Saturday rally into a dedicated, peaceful Good Trouble demonstration and community food drive. Bring your passion, your energy, and your homemade signs as we stand united for our freedoms!

True democracy means taking care of our neighbors. We are hosting a food drive alongside our rally to benefit Food is Free Bay Area. Please bring non-perishable, shelf-stable food items to the Chevy’s parking lot. Learn more about their vital food rescue work at fifbayarea.org.

Good Trouble Lives On is a non-partisan weekend of action. We require that participants commit to not advocate for, endorse, or oppose any political candidate or ballot initiative. A core principle behind all Good Trouble Lives On events is a commitment to nonviolent action. We expect all participants to seek to de-escalate any potential confrontation with those who disagree with our values and to act lawfully at these events. Weapons of any kind, including those legally permitted, should not be brought to events.

MORE from Vallejo-Benicia Indivisible – Full Schedule for Saturday July 18

11:00 AM – 12:00 PM: Stand Up for Democracy Rally & Food Drive
• Location: Sidewalks at Admiral Callaghan Lane & Plaza Drive (near Home Depot).
• We are taking our standard Saturday rally and amplifying it to represent the spirit of Good Trouble. Grab your progressive signs and line the sidewalks with us!
• Supporting Food is Free Bay Area: Because a healthy democracy includes taking care of our community, we are hosting a food drive right alongside the rally. Please bring canned goods and shelf-stable items to drop off in the Chevy’s parking lot. Check out their amazing food rescue work at fifbayarea.org.
• Action: Please sign up here so we know you’re coming!

2:00 PM – 4:00 PM: Reclaim Our Vote “Write & Hold” Postcard Party
• Location: Vallejo Private Residence (Address sent upon RSVP)
• Keep the momentum going after the rally! Reclaim Our Vote is gearing up for the critical midterm elections, and we need your hands, and your passion! Between now and October, we are launching “Write and Hold” postcard campaigns, getting out the vote in areas of the country where there is ongoing voter suppression. We will be urging people to vote by writing to BIPOC voters in five key states: North Carolina, Georgia, Virginia, Texas, and Alabama. Every month, we will focus on a different state—writing the cards now and holding them to mail right when it matters most, closer to the election.
• How to Join: Email Geri Kahn at rov.solanocounty@gmail.com to RSVP and get the address.

📬 Can’t make it this Saturday? You can still help!
Come write with us at a future event! We have scheduled upcoming Saturday postcard parties from 2:00pm – 4:00pm on August 22 or September 26

o Locations: Parties will be held in Vallejo. Address provided upon RSVP!
o Want to host? If you’d like to host a party on a different date, let Geri know!
o Write from home: No problem! Email us, and we will prep a packet of postcards for you to pick up at Geri’s office so you can write from home.

Let’s make a difference!

In solidarity,
Vallejo-Benicia Indivisible

MORE: www.goodtroubleliveson.org.

GOOD TROUBLE WEEKEND – ALL OVER THE BAY AREA…

MORE ALL OVER THE BAY AREA: Go to goodtroubleliveson.org and enter your zip code. Then click a city on the big map to get details.

GOOD TROUBLE EVENTS IN BENICIA IN RECENT YEARS…

U.S. Representative and beloved activist John Lewis…

“From a small farm in Alabama, to life-risking service in the civil rights movement, to three decades in Congress, he was always ‘walking with the wind,’ steered by a moral compass that told him when to make good trouble and when to heal troubled waters. Always true to his word, his faith, and his principles, John Lewis became the conscience of the nation.”
– Former President Bill Clinton and Former Secretary Of State Hillary Clinton, Associated Press, July 18, 2020

#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

 

Benicia Not My Presidents Day 2025. (Chris Riley/Times-Herald)

 

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