Eating Soup With John Lewis

The icon didn’t live to see his vision for racial justice achieved, despite what cynical politicians want us to believe

Many lovely and important tributes have been shared in the days since the passing of Rep. John Lewis (here is one, here is another). And rightfully so. He was a bonafide hero and selfless public servant. It’s extraordinary for a prominent Black hero of the civil rights movement to survive the era, let alone live a long life and achieve a seat of power in our nation’s Congress.

I worry, however, that the death of Lewis puts greater distance between America and the racial equality and justice he spent his days fighting for. It’s easier to convince the comfortable that the civil rights movement’s mission has been achieved when there are fewer and fewer leaders from that era alive to remind us that it has, in fact, not been. That the fight goes on. That apathy is regression. And that the deep roots of White supremacy are enmeshed in the fiber of our politics and culture. America is still very much a work in progress.

He appeared, sat at the table right next to mine, hung his head and closed his eyes in a moment that appeared to be a brief prayer, and ate a small bowl…