“When historians pick up their pens to write the story of the 21st century, let them say that it was your generation who laid down the heavy burdens of hate at last and that peace finally triumphed over violence, aggression and war. So I say to you, walk with the wind, brothers and sisters, and let the spirit of peace and the power of everlasting love be your guide.” —John Lewis in his final essay, “Together, You Can Redeem the Soul of Our Nation,” published in The New York Times on July 30, 2020, 13 days after his soul moved from earth to sky.
What are we here to do, if not redeem the soul of the America that never was? The America Harriet struggled for, the land Pete Seeger sang about, the nation Baldwin returned to after spending years as an expatriate? And who am I if not a grain of sand placed gently on the loving side of the scales of justice?
On July 17th, over one hundred people came to Lake Placid as part of a national day of action called Good Trouble Lives On. Over 1,500 demonstrations took place across America in honor of Congressman John Lewis, and in dissent of this bone-chilling attempt at an un-American dictatorship.
Thanks to a dedicated coalition of North Country organizers and those who were willing to come from far and wide to demonstrate, Good Trouble Lives On strengthened our community commitment to action in these unprecedented times. Adirondack Voters for Change, ShowUp, and John Brown Lives! teamed up to make the day full of heart, meaning, and movement. The group formed out of a North Country Community Coalition earlier this year.
The afternoon began at the John Brown Farm with the unveiling of a selection of portraits from Rob Shetterly’s Americans Who Tell the Truth. Artist Rob Shetterly has painted 281 American truth tellers, immersing himself in their stories and invoking a sort of listening and looking magic to bring to life the essence of each brave soul. I’ve been personally struck, stopped in my tracks, by a number of the portraits, including both living figures and our moral ancestors. View the full gallery of Rob’s portraits here: https://americanswhotellthetruth.org/portrait-gallery/.
Scratched across the top of John Lewis’ portrait, his quote reads:
“As a young man I tasted the bitter fruits of segregation and racial discrimination, and I didn’t like it. I used to ask my parents, my grandparents, and my great grandparents, ‘Why segregation? Why racial discrimination?’ And they would say, ‘That’s the way it is. Don’t get in trouble. …’ But when I heard the words of Dr. King, I knew then that I could strike a blow against segregation and racial discrimination, and I decided to get in trouble. I decided to get in the way. But it was good trouble, necessary trouble. Democracy is not a state. It is an act.”
Moving in the spirit of good trouble, and unraveling a thread integral to this year’s John Brown Day, our congregation couldn’t possibly live this day without some music.
Our congregation sang “John Brown’s Body” and “Bright Side Somewhere,” a song by Reverend F. C. Barnes and Reverend Janice Brown that rolls along,
There’s a bright side somewhere,
There’s a bright side somewhere,
Ain’t gonna rest until I find it,
There’s a bright side somewhere.
With each repetition, powerful, loving words are swapped in: there’s justice somewhere…peace somewhere…friendship somewhere…
(I’ll pause here for a heart-open-wide shoutout to outspoken Adirondack folk musician Peggy Lynn. She taught “Bright Side Somewhere” at a small No Kings Day demonstration in Raquette Lake this summer. A second shoutout to our devoted people’s chorus, a group that meets every other Wednesday in Saranac Lake to revive peace songs, folk melodies, and freedom anthems. To each singer – your voice and your heart mean so much to me, and to our Beloved Community, as John Lewis called it.)
Readings from featured truth tellers enlivened and deepened our gathering under the tent at the John Brown Farm. How do I capture what was felt in my soul as magic? How do I convey the way the wind whipped in, rain poured down, hearts cracked open? Perhaps you reading this here and now is enough to reawaken your imagination. Perhaps it’s enough to convince you to visit the John Brown Farm, to see the American truth tellers that are on display until October. Maybe, just maybe, it’s enough to put us in conversation, in coalition, in community.
Following the unveiling of Americans Who Tell the Truth at the John Brown Farm, we marched down John Brown Road for a roadside honk and wave demonstration. Community leaders from Show Up and Voters for Change spoke out, reminding us of some of the many reasons we come together.
As one small puzzle piece in our growing Community Coalition, I’ll pause for another round of thanks…
To Jesse Murnane, Colleen Mannix, Paula King, and Tamara Peary from Show Up Plattsburgh, Malone, and Saranac Lake,
Kary Johnson, Ellen Beberman, Sue Abbott-Jones, and Meghan McIntosh from Adirondack Voters for Change,
Readers Brendan Mills, Ren Davidson Seward, Shawndel Fraser, and Lauren Forsman for bringing to life the essence of our moral ancestors,
Local officials for their cooperation,
John Brown Farm site staff for their support,
and every single Beloved Community Member whose face I am envisioning as I reflect on our good trouble.
I wish I could recap and recount every detail of the day, but I’ve offered you my lens for a brief moment in an attempt to stir your soul as mine has been stirred.
These words are a loving call to action. Come be in communion with the American truth tellers at the John Brown Farm. Participate in local actions. Feel the full force of the wind, as Bob Dylan wrote in his memoir. Let the truth knock you down, crack you open, expose you to your own heart, because then, you will have no choice but to act.