Just Blooms

 

From The Contrarian

John Lewis’s Enduring Example

We have no right to give up on democracy or our fellow Americans

JENNIFER RUBIN JUL 17

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Over 1500 “Good Trouble” events have been organized for today, commemorating the 5^th anniversary of John Lewis’s passing. A courageous civil rights activist who endured horrific, life-threatening beatings, and an eloquent advocate for nonviolent action in pursuit of social justice, Lewis—we can imagine—would express sorrow today, witnessing decades of civil rights protections and improvements in the social safety net being torn down in the name of an overtly racist, xenophobic, and anti-democratic movement.

And still, Lewis might have found today’s political environment eerily familiar. He was born into the undemocratic South, in which a White oligarchy relegated Blacks to the margins and perpetrated violence against them, during a time when they lacked full citizenship. We recoil today at the never-ceasing hateful MAGA rhetoric, demonization of migrants, and scapegoating of nonwhites and women. Surely, Lewis knew in his bones what that was all about. Deprivation of due process and incarceration in inhumane conditions? Lewis experienced that as well.

He also endured frustration in the 1960s (and beyond) with politicians’ timidity in the face of great moral wrongs. “To those who have said, ‘Be patient and wait,’ we have long said that we cannot be patient,” he said at the March on Washington in 1963. He recognized that the country was in the midst of a “great revolution,” and he admonished Americans: 

“Get in and stay in the streets of every city, every village and hamlet of this nation until true freedom comes, until the revolution of 1776 is complete.”

He vowed to march through the South and everywhere else but to “march with the spirit of love and with the spirit of dignity that we have shown here today.”

Much more recently, in the aftermath of George Floyd’s murder, Lewis expressed anguish and grief that young Black men were still dying at the hands of police. He told CBS’s Gayle King in a June, 2020 interview: “It was so painful. It made me cry. I kept saying to myself, ‘how many more? How many more young black men will be murdered? The madness must stop.’”

Confirming that the fight for civil rights is never completely won, he told Gayle King, “It was very moving, very moving to see hundreds and thousands of people from all over America and around the world take to the streets to speak up, to speak out, to get in what I call ‘good trouble,’ but to get into it.”

If someone who witnessed what Lewis had, someone who had risked his life repeatedly, could maintain faith in a multi-generational, multi-ethnic pro-democracy coalition, what right do any of us have to throw up our hands in frustration and walk away from the fight to preserve democracy and eradicate injustice and racism? The fight never ends. “People now understand what the struggle was all about,” he also said in the 2020 interview. “It’s another step down the very, very long road toward freedom, justice for all humankind.”

His exchange is every bit as relevant today:

Gayle King: And what do you think is the role of people who are not black, who want to support the movement? We’re hearing a lot about that.

John Lewis: Well, we all are human. We all are a part of the human family. And it doesn’t matter whether you’re Black or white, Latino, Asian American, or Native American, we’re one people. We’re one family. We all live in the same house, the world house. And as Dr. King said again, we must learn to live together as brothers and sisters. If not, we’ll perish as fools. And I think what’s been going on the past few days is living truth that we all are connected, and nothing, not anything, is going to separate us.

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The lesson is plain: Getting out not only today but engaging every day to fight against lawlessness, violence, cruelty, bigotry, and inhumanity is the task of not just the Hispanic community (which is being terrorized daily), not just the Black community (which sees anti-racism and voting rights denigrated as being “DEI”); not just women (whose bodily autonomy has been taken away and whose health is endangered); not just enemies of Trump facing prosecution and persecution (from Miles Taylor to Mahmoud Khalil); and not just those in blue states. Donald Trump’s incompetence and malevolencenegatively impact people in red states (including his MAGA followers), too. 

We are in this together, and when we ignore injustice, suffering, and cruelty in downtown Los Angeles or in the Florida Everglades, we invite it everywhere. “For many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny,” Dr. King said on the steps of the Lincoln Monument in 1963. “And they have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom.”

In short, if you are fatigued, depressed, or demoralized by the flooded zone of lies and outrages flowing from the Trump regime, get up off the couch and out of the house anyway. Take up the responsibility of citizenship in a democracy. We do not have the luxury to wallow in despair. Our fellow Americans are counting on us to engage in the spirit of Lewis’s good trouble; to peacefully protest, engage with politicians, organize, and vote. 

*****

I must admit - I did not get to a march on Thursday.  Too many other things on the schedule today.

I'll try for the next one.

Our Trip to Quebec, Canada - Part 2A Ste. Flavie plus responses to questions

Friday, June 27th we left Quebec City crossed over the bridge to the south side of the St. Lawrence and headed north east with our destination Ste. Flavie. Quebec.

We were surprised by how muddy the river looked and the shore line was mud flats.

Our bed and breakfast for the next two nights was the Centre d'Art Marcel Gagnon in Ste. Flavie, Quebec.  This was a combination art gallery, gift shop, restaurant and hotel.

Our room was small but comfortable.  We had one window - it's there on the second floor on the right side of the building next to the sign on the side wall.

Here's our view from that window.

Marcel Gagnon is known for his armless figures.

They appear in the river when the tide goes out.

I think they may have been wood originally but now most are cast concrete.

This one was a bit different.

Then there was this sculpture.

We had the best breakfasts here included with our room and served in the restaurant.

This is a very popular spot along the St. Lawrence as evidenced by all the cars that would stop to visit. We'd made a reservation for dinner here our first night at their suggestion.  Our second evening the restaurant was booked full with a large bus tour group.  We found another chain restaurant and had pizza.

Lunch our second day here was the best of anywhere.  We'd asked a local where was a good place to eat and she recommended a restaurant one town to the north: Le Matelot in Baie-des-Sables.  She even made a reservation for us for 1 pm.  Good thing too, as it was very popular.

I had a lobster salad and

Dan had a lobster club sandwich.

Here was our strawberry dessert.

I wrote about the garden visit in this postcard.  We also visited the Musee de la Neuvfe-France just south of Ste. Flavie.  This place is also known for it honey wine which we tasted and purchased two bottles.

Upstairs is a collection of artifacts from New France from before European settlement through Colonial times.  It was fascinating!  Sorry for all these pictures but you must see how extensive it is and all collected by this man.  We had a wonderful conversation with him and discovered that his father lived in NH as a youngster but the 1919 flu wiped out the family except for his father who then came to Quebec to live with an uncle.

Oldest artifacts below including Clovis points and a mastodon bone.

It is well cataloged.  We had access on our phone to the catalog.

I meant to ask him what will happen to this when he's gone.  Maybe he's already made plans to give it to the Gaspe Museum which we visited later in our travels.

To be continued -  this is already too long!

******

Mary, New Hampshire and Vermont both border Quebec to the north. The shortest route for us was to get on Interstate 91 north to the Vermont/Canada border - about 2.5 hours.

John, Dan tried his best to learn French.  He would often ask a question in French but unfortunately the response came too fast to understand.  The Quebecoise would then switch to English. They were very kind about the French he spoke. Just about everyone had a better grasp of English than Dan did of French.  One exception was a young woman acting as a guide who struggled with English.

As Americans, we did apologize about how Canada is being treated by that man in the White House. We made sure those we spoke with knew we were not in agreement with that treatment.

Linda, Skeeters exist everywhere!  When we hiked in Gaspe we had to wear insect repellant.