BRATTLEBORO-It started on the broiling side streets of downtown Brattleboro and ended just ahead of heavy rain at the Whetstone Pathway, but some 400 people still showed up for a "Good Trouble Lives On" pro-democracy march and rally on July 17.
It was one of more than 1,600 peaceful, nonviolent events that were held around the nation on July 17 in memory of civil rights leader and lawmaker John Lewis, and inspired by his call that "when you see something that is not right, not fair, not just, say something! Do something! Get in trouble, good trouble, necessary trouble."
Meanwhile, in Bellows Falls, a well-attended vigil was held on Westminster and Church streets. It also served as a food drive and fundraiser for Our Place Community Food Project.
A civil rights icon
Lewis died of pancreatic cancer on July 17, 2020, at age 80. In his years of nonviolent actions as one of the younger leaders of the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s, he was arrested 45 times and was viciously beaten several times. He was elected to Congress in 1986 and won re-election 16 times.
The Good Trouble Street Choir, The People's Resistance Marching Band, and Indivisible Brattleboro put together the event. While the turnout in Brattleboro was not a large as the June 17 No Kings Day rally, M.D. Baker, one of the organizers, said it was a significant showing, considering it was a weeknight event in the middle of summer.
"Despite the current chaos, worries, and violence, this event felt to me like a more positive-focused outlet than an angry one," she said.
"One of the goals of these rallies is for folks to feel less isolated," she added.
Leo Schiff of Brattleboro said that "the feelings that people are having are too much to handle on our own," and Baker said that events like this one show that "pulling together, mated with good speakers and more music, can help us handle that."
The Choir and Band led a march that began at the New England Youth Theatre parking lot on Flat Street, proceeded along Frost Street, and went back toward downtown along Elliot, Main, and Flat streets before ending at the Whetstone Pathway near the Brattleboro Food Co-op for additional songs and tributes.
Speakers at the event included Mary Gannon from the NAACP, Gillian Lucero-Love from The Root Social Justice Center, poet Naima Wade, and singers Verandah Porche and Patty Carpenter.
They honored Lewis's memory with calls to continue his work with acts of resistance to the current dangers to our democracy and human rights.
Schiff said at the Whetstone rally that "like John Lewis, we believe we must love our neighbor; we believe that whether it is a migrant, an unsheltered person, someone in a psychiatric crisis, or even a neighbor in a MAGA hat, we must love our neighbor and see no stranger."
This News item by Randolph T. Holhut was written for The Commons.