John Lewis (photo via JohnLewis.House.Gov)
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Commentators and journalists struggle to find a word that can convey the greatness and the goodness of John R. Lewis, who died last night. No word I know is capacious enough to bear the full weight of his person.
As a young man, he was old in wisdom.
As an old man, he was young in hope.
He fought the good fight, he finished the race, he kept the faith.
May he rest in peace.
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Two major figures in the civil rights movement — C.T. Vivian and John Lewis — passing at almost the same time.
Friday was a bad day for those of us working for racial equality. Early in the morning we also lost the Reverend C.T. Vivian who was organizing lunch counter protests in Peoria, Illinois back in the 1940s. While in seminary school during the 1950s, he met Martin Luther King Jr. and John Lewis. With his book entitled Black Power and the American Myth, he was the first member of the executive staff of the Southern Christian Leadership Council to publish an account of the civil rights struggle. He spent a lifetime engaged in meaningful community activism. Reverend Vivian was a giant in the civil rights movement, and all Americans should take the time to educate themselves about the history of the man, and contemplate the meaning of all the good works of that man.