Street Roots •
Feb. 10-16, 2017
News
Page
Association for the Advancement of Colored
People, Southern Christian Leadership
Conference, Congress of Racial Equality,
Urban League, Student Nonviolent
Coordinating Committee or many religious
groups that came together and worked
together for the common good.
The first meeting for the plan to March
on Washington included the so-called “Big
Six.” Martin Luther King Jr., A. Philip
Randolph, James Farmer of CORE, Whitney
Young of the Urban League, Roy Wilkins of
the NAACP and young John Lewis of SNCC
(Lewis was 23 in 1963, the year of the
march). And from that meeting, that first
meeting, we invited four major religious
leaders and labor leaders to join us.
madness. And to hear this man that is
coming to the White House talking about
nuclear weapons - billions and billions of
dollars to be invested in bombs and missiles
and guns, while people are starving with no
housing. In a city like Atlanta and other
places around America, to see the number
of people sleeping on the street with limited
shelter what is going to happen to the
hundreds of thousands of people without
shelter?
, Are people going to open their doors and
take people in? Mothers with children, many
men of color, on the streets’^ it’s true in
almost any major urban center in America.
And many of the men are people who
served in our military and fought in our
wars. That’s not right, it’s not fair, it’s not
just. But I’m still hopeful. I’m still
optimistic. But we must fight. And we will,
in a non-violent fashion.
AW: What happened to that coalition and
unity?
JL: Well, what emerged here in D.C. that
became much more all-inclusive was The
Leadership Conference on Civil and Human
Rights. It made those groups bolder there,
but they were not action oriented like we
were, because they were legislative: all
about the bills and what was happening on
the Hill.
But now, more than ever before, I think
we need people that are going to be
engaged in everything. Everything. Because
there are forces in America, as a result of
this election, trying to take us to a different
place and take us back. And people have to
come together. You grow the coalition. It’s
all about the future of humankind, not just
in America, but around the world.
way to expand gun rights, it’s frightening.
You’ve seen, in effect, that we’re prepared
to spend millions and billions — maybe
trillions* of dollars;-- on arms. What
happened to poor people? What happened
to resources for education? For housing?
How do we protect our environment? I
say all the time, “We have the right to know
what is in the food that we eat, what is in
the water we drink, what is in the air we
breathe.” We have limited resources and we
have to learn to live together as humankind.
For what affects people in the Delta of
Mississippi or in the Black Belt of Alabama,
affects people here in Washington, D.C. or
in New York or Seattle, or affects people
around the world. When you have dirty,
filthy air, it’s not just going to stay here in
America, but it’s going to blow around the
world.
We should be trying to bring this little
planet, this little piece of real estate we call
Earth, closer together - not dividing people
because of their nationality.
AW: On an individual level, where does
someone begin to do that?
JL: I’ve said this from time to time, and it’s
not anything new, and it’s not just me: You
have to come to that point where you
believe, truly believe, that when you see
something that’s not right, not fair, not just,
you have to speak up.
Find a way to speak o u t Find a way to
become involved. You organize, you push,
you pull. You probably saw that we took
action on the House floor last June, trying
to do something about gun violence. And
you’re probably going to see some action in
the days and weeks to come. Some people
are debating right now — maybe not on the
P H O T O B Y K EN M A R T IN /S T R E E T SENSE V E N D O R
Washington, D.C., street paper Street Sense (left) interviews John Lewis (right) on Jan. 5.
floor, but in rooms with closed doors, high
places and secret meetings — how they’re
going to repeal Obamacare.
And what do you have to put in place of
it? How long will it take? There will be
people coming in and testifying in front of
Congress. It’s their goal, it’s their mission,
to take healthcare. They’re hot saying it, but
that’s what they’re going to do: take
healthcare away from people, privatizing
Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security.
AWz Y ou m e n tio n e d the sit-in th a t y o u le d la s t
y^dK 'W hdtdoyouthihk the public needs to do
to make sure that we push issues that are
affecting the lives o f millions of people on a
daily basis? W hat else can the public do to help
Post-interview vendor comments
Angie W hitehurst: I have the greatest
respect and admiration for the Honorable
John Lewis. He has wisdom, experience,
vision and resolve. He is my hero because of-
his humility, strength and ability to stand
tall, not just in verbiage and lore, but in
everyday life. He serves us all as a living,
stellar example of achievement on behalf of
all people through peaceful dialogue and
nonviolence. \
think we still need to fix it
AW: On that point, there are some people who
are saying that if we had not gotten it
reapproved that we would be set back another
40 or 50 years that it would have been
devastating. Do you feel that way?
Yeah, we still need to fix the decision in
the United States Supreme Court where
they have gutted the essence of the Voting
R ig h ts A ct. A nd it’s to o b ad we d id n ’t do it
JL:
in th is la s t Congjtjgss* I t ’g going; to b e m u c h
«
harder, it’s goingTo be much more 'difficult' ~
We must see who’s being considered for the
Attorney General. I don’t think leadership is
going to come from there, from Jeff
Sessions from Alabama.
the members of Congress?
If not for the Voting Rights Act, I don’t
think President Carter would have been
JL: The people of America must become
elected or Bill Clinton. President Obama
informed artd engaged. Provide people with
the information, provide them with the tools wouldn’t have been elected. So we need it
now more than ever before. But some would
and instruments to put pressure on the
think you need to just open up the political
members of Congress, for them to say,
“This is what we want, this is what we.need, process and let the people come in: one
person, one vote. That’s what I said at the
and this is what we’re going to get.” You
March on Washington on August 28,1963.
have to make it uncomfortable for people -
The people can do it, put pressure on the
people in high places, It cannot be business
incoming president and put pressure on
as usual.
Congress: the members, the rank and file
members. President Johnson said to us in
AW: So therefore we should not assume that
our congressmen and senators will take care of 1964, “If you want to pass the Civil Rights
Act, make me do i t ” And we did.
things for us?
As Dr. King would say, “There is nothing
more powerful than the marching feet of a
JL: You should not assume th a t You should
determined people.” So I’m really gratified
assume and believe that people are going to
to know that all these women are going to
do the right thing. But sometimes you need
be marching in the Women’s March on
others to make people do what is right, to
Washington. And they’re going to be
do what is fair. You’ve got to be able to
marching all across America. And in my own
disturb the order of things. Sometimes I
district, they’re going to march from the
think the American people are too quiet
Human Rights Center to the state capitol of
You need to make a little noise.
Georgia, those that are not coming here.
Dr. King used to say from time to time,
And I think there are going to be protests in
“There may come a time when you need to
turn things upside down to set things upside 80 cities or more.
My hope for the future is very simple:
right”
that we can leave this little planet a little
greener and a little cleaner and a little more
Josh Maxey: You’ve been a member of
peaceful for the generation yet unborn. But
Congress for many years and witnessed so
if that is going to happen, we’ve got to stop
many different things. What would you say is
spending our limited resources on more
your proudest moment?
wars, more bombs, more missiles and more
guns.
JL: One of my, I guess private thoughts,
Spend it on the people: food, healthcare,
well, proudest moments, is when we got the
clean air, clean water. We’ve got to stop the
/ 1 Voting- Rights Act renewed in 2006. And I
Ken M artin: It was about to be one of
the biggest days of my life. I’ve met foreign
d ig n ita rie s , g re a t m u sician s, e n te r ta in e r s ,
other congressmen, street legends, people
of great wealth and knowledge. But to have
a conversation with a civil rights icon? To
have the honor of photo documenting the_
event? Me? Wow! This is Huge!
Of course, it was not the first time I’d
seen him in person. I was a gopher college
intern during a D.C. march for the missing
children of Atlanta. I got relatively close and
was even a “parade marshal.” But that was
over 30 years ago, a blur. And nothing like
this. This living legend was about to further
the impact that he had made upon my life.
Impact that includes nearly every right and
privilege I have enjoyed as a Black male in
America.
I knew that because of him and the other
proud men with whom he travelled - names
like Lowery, Randolph, Young, Jackson,
Wilkins, Rustin, Gregory, Farmer, Abernathy
and King — I could be a man of substance
and dignity, a contributor to my society and
my community. This was my chance to let
Him know on a personal man-to-legend level,
as it were, just how much his work means to
me. It changed and continues to change our
country for the better.
He has received all kinds of honors, so he
has heard it all before, I’m sure. It is
probably routine for him. But for me? To
meet and shake the hand of a man who took
a brutal beating so that I might not have to?
A man who has dedicated his life to the
service of his, no, our country? A man, who
even today is berated by the ignorant minds
of this land while toiling unselfishly for the
greater good of humanity? “Huge” is too
small a term for what this meant to me.
John Lewis, and me? Wow!
Street Sense, Washington, D.C. / INSP.ngo