‘Good Trouble’ Actions Honor John Lewis

Supply: Interim Archives / Getty

5 years after civil rights icon Congressman John Lewis handed away, communities are mobilizing to make some “good hassle” on Thursday, July 17. Greater than a symbolic nod to Lewis and his dedication to voting rights and civil rights extra broadly, organizers of the “Good Hassle Lives On” Day of Motion goal to encourage and be certain that Black and different impacted communities’ considerations and wishes will not be drowned out by the brand new wave of authoritarianism.

Led by a coalition of civil rights and pro-democracy teams, together with Transformative Justice Coalition, Black Voters Matter, and The Management Convention on Civil and Human Rights the “Good Hassle Lives On” Day of Motion the group stands agency in opposition to the surge in assaults on elementary freedoms, fairness, and violations of civil liberties.

Throughout a press convention, Transformative Justice Coalition co-leader Darryl Jones defined that Lewis’ household didn’t need the anniversary of his passing to be a easy commemoration.

“We requested their permission to do that…their situation was they didn’t need it to be a somber remembrance of his life,” Jones mentioned. “However somewhat selecting up the baton of what he stood for and operating ahead with it, constructing and shifting towards the beloved neighborhood.”

Organizers estimate over 1,600 occasions throughout the nation, with the principle occasion occurring in Chicago, Ailing. Anchor occasions will happen in Atlanta, Ga, St. Louis, Mo., Annapolis, Md., and Oakland, Calif. Communities have organized every part from marches and rallies to mass mobilizations and different movement-building occasions. Whereas occasions could differ throughout communities, there’s a throughline of dedication to carrying ahead the struggle for racial justice, voting rights, and dignity for all.

The “Good Hassle Lives On” coalition referred to as for an finish to the next:

The Trump administration’s excessive crackdown on our civil rights, from our proper to vote to our proper to protest and communicate freely.

Politicians and lawmakers concentrating on Black and Brown Individuals, immigrants, trans folks, and others with hateful, harmful insurance policies.

The rich and well-connected slashing packages that working folks depend on – together with Medicaid, SNAP, and Social Safety – to line their very own pockets.

In some ways, the group’s calls for function a problem to the plenty of people that consider in one thing higher for his or her households and communities. The calls for additionally comply with Lewis’ urging for folks to assist construct the Beloved Group.

In an op-ed revealed within the New York Occasions shortly after his dying, Lewis inspired Individuals to return collectively and acknowledge the continued work required to maintain democracy.

“Democracy shouldn’t be a state. It’s an act, and every technology should do its half to assist construct what we referred to as the Beloved Group, a nation and world society at peace with itself,” wrote Lewis. “Odd folks with extraordinary imaginative and prescient can redeem the soul of America by getting in what I name good hassle, crucial hassle.”

Echoing an identical sentiment throughout Tuesday’s press convention, League of Ladies Voter’s CEO Celina Stewart gave her tackle what it meant to get into “good hassle.”

“It implies that to do good, typically it’s a must to take dangers and it’s a must to rock the boat, be a bit of unruly, put politeness apart, and struggle for what you consider in,” Stewart mentioned. “Even when it means you get into hassle.”

The League of Ladies Voters plans to mobilize 8.5 million voters between now and November 2026, with a deal with returning energy to the palms of the folks, invoking sentiments of varied state-level Black-led power-building organizations throughout the nation.

April Albright, Authorized Director and Chief of Workers for Black Voters Matter, inspired folks to hitch a “Good Hassle Lives On” motion, but additionally to grasp that all of us have a task to play past Thursday’s actions. Recognizing the significance of 2025 as an area election cycle, Albright referred to as on folks to concentrate to the native degree “as a result of energy is birthed from the bottom up.”

“We want each single side of our communities actively partaking and ensuring America continues to grow to be,” she mentioned. “Let Thursday be a reminder that we nonetheless must make America grow to be that multicultural Democracy, the place all of us share in energy and assets. But it surely’s going to take our change of our coronary heart, and it begins this Thursday.”