The Loss of A Legend; Let’s Talk Civil Rights
At the close of last week, the nation was devastated to discover the loss of civil rights legend and US House Representative John Robert Lewis to stage 4 pancreatic cancer, despite signs in early June suggesting improvements in his health. His death, confirmed in a statement by Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, has led to many reflections on Mr. Lewis’s revolutionary life as an activist and organizer that led him to be known affectionately as the “soul” or “conscience” of Congress. At a time of growing debate and unrest surrounding systemic racism and social justice where his guidance and example are of paramount relevance, his voice and leadership in this nation will be sorely missed.
Arrested 40 times from 1960 to 1966 — and as recently as 2013 — John Robert Lewis risked his own life on the front lines of the Civil Rights Movement. Mr. Lewis is best known for his chairmanship of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and for being one of the 13 original Freedom Riders. In 1965, Mr. Lewis lead the march on Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama. Images of Mr. Lewis having been beaten in Selma by Alabama state troopers, 150 of which attacked the peaceful voting rights demonstration, shook the nation to its core and contributed greatly to the passing of the 1965 Voting Rights Act. Mr. Lewis spent his life fighting for civil rights and rose to prominence within the movement before taking office as House Representative of the 5th congressional district of Georgia in 1986.
The son of sharecroppers and born into a segregated America, Congressman Lewis lived to see the election of the first black president — an achievement he in no small part helped realize. Mr. Lewis and Barack Obama met when Obama was in law school, which was the beginning of a lasting influential relationship. President Obama awarded the National Medal of Freedom to Mr. Lewis in 2011 and recently wrote in a tribute, “…through the decades, he not only gave all of himself to the cause of freedom and justice, but inspired generations that followed to try to live up to his example.” Mr. Lewis was truly an example courage in the face of oppression, and his contributions have paved the way for generations of African Americans.
Amid the police violence and Black Lives Matter protests and walkouts decrying the murder of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, Lewis’s death stands as a wrenching loss to a historic cause: the advancement of black rights in America and the dismantling of white supremacy. The revelatory spirit that Mr. Lewis helped establish in this country in the 60’s Civil Rights Movement seems to be coursing through America’s veins with new vigor. The issues we currently face with police brutality and racial bias are relics of that era, yet still color the lived experiences of African Americans today. As some peaceful protests turn violent, as people are killed and injured and property is destroyed, Mr. Lewis’s life as a stalwart advocate for non-violent protest, systemic reform, and world peace can act as a kind of north star for our nation’s next chapter of fighting for civil rights.
Jared Foxhall, Summer Investment Intern
Another key figure of the Civil Rights Movement, Rev. Cordy Tindell “C.T.” Vivian also passed away on Friday at age 95. C.T Vivian was a preacher and close friend of MLK Jr., working alongside him in the Freedom Rides. Vivian was born on July 30th, 1924 in Boonville, Missouri. He and his late wife Octavia Vivian had six children. Learn more about his life here.
Led by Jennifer L. Eberhardt in collaboration with investment firm Illumen Capital, Stanford research finds that funds led by people of color face more bias, especially when they are high performing; investors judge them more harshly than their white counterparts with identical credentials. Read more.
The Alabama bridge that became a flash point for protestors led by Robert Lewis on March 7th, 1965 — the Edmund Pettus Bridge — is currently under petition to be renamed after Mr. Lewis from Edmund Pettus, a Confederate general and Ku Klux Klan leader. The online petition already has 400,000 signatures. You can sign it too!
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