Demonstrators gathered at more than 1,500 locations across the United States on Thursday, marking five years since congressman John Lewis’s death while protesting Trump administration policies.
The coordinated “Good Trouble Lives On” demonstrations drew participants from all 50 states, invoking Lewis’s famous call for “good trouble, necessary trouble” in pursuit of social justice causes.
Lewis, a Georgia congressman and civil rights veteran, was beaten by police during the 1965 Selma to Montgomery march at Edmund Pettus Bridge.
Dozens of civil rights and advocacy organisations backed the nationwide action, which combined commemoration of Lewis’s legacy with opposition to current government policies.
Key demonstrations in major cities
Atlanta saw roughly 1,000 marchers proceed from Big Bethel Church and a large Lewis mural to Ebenezer Baptist Church, where Dr Martin Luther King Jr once preached. Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock currently serves as the church’s senior pastor.
Rev Dr Jonathan Jay Augustine from Big Bethel AME Church addressed the crowd: “We honour John Lewis’s personal legacy, five years after being called home. He’s someone who gave his life for inclusion and for inclusiveness, and the things he gave his life for are under attack and being eroded away”.
Georgia NAACP president Gerald Griggs delivered pointed criticism of Trump, referencing the former president’s past comments about Lewis’s congressional district: “Today we go to send a message from the birthplace of civil rights to … the one that wants to destroy the Department of Education, the one that wants to deport millions upon millions of people seeking a better life, the one who won’t release the Epstein files, the one who had the nerve to call the fifth district horrible and falling apart. We still have a message for that man. In Georgia, no one is above the law. You still have a court date in the fifth district”.
Washington demonstrators assembled near the White House, with some displaying signs opposing Immigration and Customs Enforcement and drawing comparisons between the Trump administration and Nazi Germany.
North Carolina resident Mary Baird, who travelled to the capital for congressional meetings before joining the protest, declared: “Fascism will fall and when it falls, if you were complicit, you will be held accountable”.
Minneapolis protesters heard from lawyer and activist Nekima Levy Armstrong, who urged, “Stand up and get in the way,” whilst also encouraging continued boycotts of Minnesota-based retailer Target.
Organisers target broad participation
Event coordinators anticipated tens of thousands would participate across urban and rural areas, representing the latest in distributed protests opposing Trump’s return to office. June’s “No Kings” demonstrations attracted several million participants in what organisers called one of America’s largest single-day protests.
Chicago hosted Thursday’s primary evening event, with major rallies also scheduled for Atlanta, St Louis, Annapolis and Oakland. Activities ranged from marches and vigils to voter registration drives and direct action training sessions.
Protesters demanded an end to what they characterised as administration attacks on civil liberties, voting access, and minority communities, alongside cuts to social programmes including Medicaid and food assistance.
Transformative Justice Coalition co-leader Daryl Jones explained the action’s motivation: “One of the things that John Lewis would always say is that if you see something that’s wrong, you have an obligation to speak up, to say something, to do something. That’s what July 17 is about – seeing things across this nation, seeing things that are being impacted, that are just not right. We’ve got to stand up and say something”.
(information from The Guardian/image source: EPA/JUSTIN LANE)
