Stand on giant’s shoulders and see the progress yet to be made
America has lost a civil rights hero but gained a trailblazer within the space of a month – and it underlines the social injustices that still pervade, says Dr Cherrie Short
AS A former commissioner on the UK Race and Equality Commission for many years, and a former Race and Equality Commissioner for Wales, I feel compelled to speak out on the passing of the great man, John Lewis, and the historic nomination of Senator Kamala Harris as the first woman of colour nominated to a major party’s presidential ticket.
Senator Harris will be running alongside Joe Biden, as vice-president of the Democratic Party.
She has said: “Congressman John Lewis was an American hero – a giant, upon whose shoulders many of us stand.
“Throughout his life he showed unending courage, generosity, and love for our country.”
In many ways Lewis’ death represents the end of an era, not only for Congress, but for the country.
Lewis served as a link between the current Black Lives Matter Movement and the 1960s Civil Rights movement.
His passing brought home to me that the battles over civil rights and social justice are still raging across the country, which is why it is so important that a person of colour is a nominee for vice-president of one of the two major political parties.
For example, racial inequalities in the criminal justice system persist. The Washington Post stated recently that: “Black men are imprisoned six times the rate of white men and have a greater than one in four chance of going to prison during their lifetimes.”
In fact, in all areas of social justice, we continue to see inequality for black and brown people and a system of discrimination in housing, education, health and economic opportunities.
The other major reason that the nomination of Senator Harris for vice-president is so important is that the Republican Party, and especially President Trump, have significantly exacerbated the racial strife in the country, threatening to undo decades of progress. President Trump didn’t attend John Lewis’ memorial services, despite Lewis’ major historical accomplishments and the nation’s current crisis over Black Lives Matter.
Lewis was known for fighting for racial justice, but also for jobs, freedom, and equal voting rights. He demanded social equality on all fronts.
At the peak of his activism, Lewis was one of the “Big Six” civil rights leaders, who included Martin Luther King Jr. Lewis co-organised and spoke at the March on Washington, the rally at which Dr Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his iconic I Have a Dream speech, and he was the last surviving speaker from the march.
Lewis also co-led the Selma march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge, where he suffered a severe beating from Alabama state troopers on Bloody Sunday.
Lewis was especially respected because his civic duty didn’t wane from the 1960s. He eventually went on to serve in the United States House of Representatives for Georgia’s 5th congressional district from 1987 until his death.
As a congressman, he was a Georgia Democrat and represented an area that covered most of its capital, Atlanta, and in that space, continued to work on policy that positively impacted on people of colour in his district.
President Trump questioned both his accomplishments and the value of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which Lewis fought and almost died for. In fact, in spite of the context in which Lewis died – amidst a current major racial justice movement – President Trump seemed more concerned with being petty.
“He didn’t come to my State of the Union speeches, and that’s OK,” he said to reporters. “That’s his right. He should’ve come. I think he made a big mistake.”
The President went on to insist that, perhaps excluding Abraham Lincoln, “nobody has done more for Black Americans” than he [Trump] had, including Lyndon Johnson, who led the passage of the Civil Rights Act.
While it is often tempting to criticise the United States, especially now in the midst of its racial strife, we in the UK should examine our own progress toward racial and social justice.
Blacks and ethnic minorities are treated poorly and disproportionately represented in the criminal justice system, have lower home ownership, twice the rate of unemployment, and are disproportionately negatively affected by the onslaught of Covid19. Ethnic minorities are also underrepresented at senior levels of the public sector.
The percentage of ethnic minority Members of Parliament, for example, stands at just 4.2%.
Black Lives Matter in the UK too.