What John Lewis Taught Young Chicago Activists About Taking Up The Baton

John Lewis Remembered
The hearse carrying the late Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., moves along a section of 16th Street that's been renamed Black Lives Matter Plaza in Washington, Monday, July 27, 2020. Pablo Martinez Monsivais / AP Photo
John Lewis Remembered
The hearse carrying the late Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., moves along a section of 16th Street that's been renamed Black Lives Matter Plaza in Washington, Monday, July 27, 2020. Pablo Martinez Monsivais / AP Photo

What John Lewis Taught Young Chicago Activists About Taking Up The Baton

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The nation continues mourning the loss of congressman and civil rights icon Rep. John Lewis this week. He died at age 80 after battling pancreatic cancer, and was laid to rest on Thursday.

In his last essay published the day of his funeral, Rep. Lewis wrote a call to action: “When you see something that is not right, you must say something. You must do something. Democracy is not a state. It is an act, and each generation must do its part to help build what we called the Beloved Community, a nation and world society at peace with itself.”

Reset talks to two young Chicago organizers, Kwynn Townsend Riley and Miracle Boyd, about the lessons they learned from Lewis, and how they aim to take up his mission of “good trouble.”

“I am grateful that we have such an ancestor on our side, on the freedom side, that has passed before us,” Townsend Riley told Reset. “Congressman Lewis stood for the good trouble, and that’s what we continue to do.”

GUESTS: Kwynn Townsend Riley, spokesperson for the Chicago chapter of BYP100

Miracle Boyd, organizer for GoodKids MadCity