Three local groups are planning a rally for Thursday to honor the legacy of Congressman John Lewis and “fight back against attacks on our civil and human rights,” joining hundreds of similar events planned nationwide.
Columbus Community United, Bartholomew County Indivisible and Rise Up Columbus have organized a Columbus gathering for Good Trouble Lives On— a nationwide day of peaceful, non-violent action rooted in the legacy of the civil rights movement and inspired by Lewis’ call to make “good trouble, necessary trouble.”
It’ll be on Thursday, July 17 on the steps of Columbus City Hall from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., with plans for speakers and music.
“Participants will gather to demand an end to the authoritarian attacks on our freedom to vote, protest, and organize— and to stand against united efforts to criminalize our communities, roll back our rights, and slash vital public programs,” a release about the event says.
Rev. Nic Cable of Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Columbus will serve as emcee.
Lewis, a towering civil rights leader, represented Georgia’a 5th congressional district as a Democrat from 1987 until his death on July 17, 2020.
Lewis was the youngest speaker in the 1963 March on Washington. He also led the first of three marches from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama across the Edmund Pettus Bridge on March 7, 1965 where he and others were severely beaten by state troopers. The incident, known as “Bloody Sunday,” spurred national outrage and is recognized as contributing to the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
Local groups have organized two other somewhat similar rallies this year as non-violent protests of President Donald Trump and his administration, with a “Hands off our Democracy” and “No Kings” rally in April and June.
