An Open Letter to US Rep. John Lewis

[99th_Monkey]

AN OPEN LETTER TO REP. JOHN LEWIS.
by Douglas Williams * Feb 12, 2016 * The South Lawn

Yesterday, you stated the following about Bernie Sanders’s record on fighting for civil rights in the 1960s:

“I never saw him. I never met him. I was chair of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee for three years, from 1963 to 1966. I was involved with the sit-ins, the Freedom Rides, the March on Washington, the march from Selma to Montgomery and directed (the) voter education project for six years. But I met Hillary Clinton. I met President (Bill) Clinton.”

We are going to ignore the fact that Hillary Clinton was a Goldwater Girl, or that you once stated to a Clinton biographer that, “[t]he first time I ever heard of Bill Clinton was the 1970s”, or that it has already been well-established that Sanders worked with the Congress for Racial Equality (CORE) at the University of Chicago in the 1960s. We are also going to leave aside the fact that every mention of Bill Clinton in your book Walking With The Wind described an instance that he opposed some policy that you cherished.

Instead, we are going to talk about another person that you never saw or met.



Dorothy Marie Boone-Anderson was born in Gates County, North Carolina in 1935 as one of seven children. She left formal schooling in the eighth grade to go into the fields and work to support her family. Times were always hard for the Boones, and the lack of educational prospects for the family meant that times would always be hard. That was a legacy of a segregation that always kept Black families at the edge of the American Dream; close enough to be eternally tortured by a success that was constantly visible yet always elusive. In early 1953, Dorothy became pregnant by a man named Douglas Washington Williams. Her son, Luther, would be born on September 21, 1953.

It was the birth of my father that spurred my grandmother into organizing within the Civil Rights Movement, determined that her children would never have to live in a world where economic and political opportunities were denied to them because of their race. She organized alongside Haywood Riddick at the Nansemond County SNCC and organizations like the Wilroy Civic League, which acted as a locus for social and political activity in the neighborhood that they lived in. As I am sure you know, it made sense for them to focus on integrating the public school system. My father went to Wilroy School, an elementary school that was built with $900 from the Rosenwald Fund. This fund, set up by Sears and Roebuck executive Julius Rosenwald, was necessary to ensure that Black children received education in areas where the state refused to provide them. It stood as a testament to the disregard that the Commonwealth of Virginia showed to its most vulnerable populations.

Continued at link, here: https://thesouthlawn.org/2016/02/12/an-open-letter-to-rep-john-lewis/

[Rebkeh]

1. +1

[thereismore]

2. I like the part where slap in the face is mentioned. nt

[99th_Monkey]

3. For those who don't poke-through, the entire sentence is noteworthy.

"When you use your history as a hero of the Movement to disparage others because you never personally knew them, it is a slap in the face to all those people who fought hard and never made it into the history books or into Congress. It is a slap in the face to people like my grandmother."

[840high]

6. Hope everyone reads it - very moving.

[pat_k]

4. "...bravery shown by organizers whose names we will never know."

....As I said earlier, you did not know or meet my grandmother. Your lack of acquaintance with her does not counterfeit the work she put in, like it does not counterfeit the work of any other person you did not know and yet sought to bring to birth a better world than the one they came into.

The limited amount of freedom that we Black Americans enjoy today is due in large part to the rallies organized, the meals cooked, the plans conceived, and the bravery shown by organizers whose names we will never know. Believe it or not, our freedom was not won by the Big Six alone. When you use your history as a hero of the Movement to disparage others because you never personally knew them, it is a slap in the face to all those people who fought hard and never made it into the history books or into Congress. It is a slap in the face to people like my grandmother...

[840high]

5. This moved me to tears. Thank you.

[99th_Monkey]

17. You're most welcome. nt

[AtomicKitten]

7. k/r

[HerbChestnut]

8. That was well written.

Hope Rep. Lewis reads it.

[earthshine]

9. John Lewis is a hero of the past and the present.

I think he is just guilty of some momentary errors in judgement. I think he was riled up by those around him and spoke without giving it a lot of thought.

I really want to believe this is true.

If I am factually wrong here ... oh, it's just too painful.

[99th_Monkey]

16. i agree with you totally, about John Lewis being a very decent & respected guy

I guess this just illustrates how getting caught up in a political shit-storm can
cloud the judgements of even the best & brightest.

[JimDandy]

10. What an exceptional letter. n/t

[renate]

11. Damn....

Love this part especially: "...millions of others who owe everything to the Dorothy Marie Boone-Andersons of this world."

SO many incredible people who never made the front page.

[cui bono]

12. Very moving. And so true. n/t

[Lazy Daisy]

13. Mr. Lewis isn't the only one

who is denying Bernie's support through out his personal life and career.

The CBC Chair, Mr. Butterfield is now saying Bernie has just recently come around.
It's a damned dirty shame Hillary feels she needs to run this kind of campaign. This is not the kind of feminism I support.

[Blue_In_AK]

14. Very well said.

I wondered, too, how John Lewis or anyone could be expected to know all of the people who worked for civil rights in those days. There were so many - black and white - working for change however they were able. No one's efforts should be minimized.

[BeanMusical]

15. Kick and R