The Courage to Live in Challenging Times –
Portland and John Lewis –
Echoes
Dwight Eisenhower called out the federal troops to protect the rights of little black girls and boys to get an integrated school education in Little Rock, Arkansas in compliance with the Supreme Court’s ruling in Brown v. Board of Education. SNCC Director John Lewis while peacefully protesting in support of the right to vote in the South was beaten senseless by the local police force at the Edmund Pettis Bridge in Selma, Alabama. Civil Rights protesters were called commies and worst. Last night US Congressman John Lewis died after 80 years of fighting for social justice.
This week, federal DHS agents were dispatched to Portland Oregon by the President and his Secretary of Homeland Security to arrest peaceful protesters who they described as anarchists. https://www.npr.org/2020/07/17/892277592/federal-officers-use-unmarked-vehicles-to-grab-protesters-in-portland They arrested and detained local Oregonians peacefully protecting the brutal murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor by local police earlier this year; one was shot by a non-lethal projectile and ended up with a fractured skull. Apparently the federal agents drive around in unmarked cars in camouflage clothing with no name badges and grab protesting citizens off the street. This is the same technique used in Mexico, Argentina and Chile for those who are stopped by the police and military and then become “desparecidos”, and after the clearing of Lafayette Square by the National Guard to assure a photo op of the President holding a bible in front of a church, it looks as if the militarized response to people’s First Amendment rights to assemble and seek redress of grievances is going to become more commonplace. It is hard to know what the federal Border Patrol officers were doing in Portland, Oregon; it appears as if its a part of the President’s re-election campaign and is certainly exacerbating the situation. The Governor of Oregon and Mayor of Portland have told the federal agents to confine their activities to protecting federal property like the federal courthouse and to cease detaining local citizens exercising their First Amendment rights to protest. The state’s Attorney General and the ACLU have filed suit against the unlawful detention of peaceful protesters. It is crucial that we all peacefully step up with the same moral courage and steadfast discipline as John Lewis did in support of peaceful protests.
Earlier this week the US Supreme Court refused to protect the rights of Florida citizens to vote. https://www.npr.org/2020/07/17/892105780/supreme-court-deals-major-blow-to-ex-felons-right-to-vote-in-florida Florida voters had authorized citizens convicted of a felony who had served their time to vote in Florida elections. The state legislature sought to block their ability to vote with what amounted to a little disguised and constitutionally prohibited poll tax on the ability of the poor to vote; the Supreme Court declined to protect the citizen’s initiative for voting rights of ex-felons.
Earlier this year, the Supreme Court refused to protect the rights of Wisconsin citizens to vote by mail with absentee ballots during the Covid 19 pandemic. https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/04/supreme-courts-hypocrisy-going-get-americans-killed/609598/ Earlier this month, the Court refused to protect the rights of Texas citizens to vote by mail in light of the Covid 19 pandemic. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/26/us/supreme-court-texas-vote-by-mail.html
We must remember the great moral courage of John Lewis and his colleagues and honor them as we live our lives accordingly.
Prepared by: Lucien Wulsin
Dated: 7/18/20