Tens of thousands of people in the United States to join “good troubles” honoring John Lewis | US News
Tens of thousands of people are expected to walk and reach more than 1,500 sites in the 50 US states on Thursday to protest the Trump administration and honor the inheritance of the deceased member of the John Lewis Congress, defender of voting rights and civil disobedience.
The day of action “Good Disorder Live On” coincides with the fifth anniversary of Lewis’ death. Lewis was a member of the Longtime Congress of Georgia who participated in emblematic actions of civil rights, including the Selma march in Montgomery in 1965 when the police attacked Lewis and other demonstrators on the Edmund Pettus bridge.
Lewis has implored people to participate in “good troubles, necessary troubles” to advance their causes, and this call serves as a basis for the actions of July 17. Dozens of advocacy and civil rights organizations are signed as a partners for the event.
“The leaders of civil rights of the past have shown us the power of collective action,” said the website of the event. “This is why on July 17, five years since the death of the Congress John Lewis, the communities across the country will go to the streets, the courthouses and the community spaces to continue his struggle for justice, voting rights and dignity for all.”
The organizers expect tens of thousands of people to occur in small cities, suburbs and cities, the last exercise of street demonstrations distributed across the country to show opposition to Trump in all corners of the United States. The last day of protest mass, no kings in June attracted several million people to one of the biggest days of protest in American history. Thursday’s events will probably be smaller because it is a weekday.
Chicago will host the flagship event of the day, with additional additional sites in Atlanta, St Louis, Annapolis and Oakland. Events include rallies, steps, candlestick vigilles, food discs, direct action training, teachings and voters’ registration readers.
The requests for the demonstration include the end of the Trump administration’s repression against civil rights, including the right of protest and the voting rights; Targeting black and brown Americans, immigrants and trans people; And the reduction of social programs like Medicaid and the additional nutritional assistance program (SNAP), known colloquially as “food coupons”.
“One of the things John Lewis would always say is that if you see something that is wrong, you have the obligation to speak, to say something, to do something,” Daryl Jones, Co-Leader of the Transformor Coalition, told journalists on Thursday. “This is what speaks on July 17 – seeing things through this country, seeing things that are affected, that are not good. We have to get up and say something.”
