We can’t wait. We need Good Trouble now!

On July 17th, the anniversary of Rep. John Lewis’ passing, we’re mobilizing across the country to demand that Congress protect our rights and ensure free and fair elections for all.

We’re sending a clear message:

In the United States, the power lies in the hands of the people. We demand an end to: 

• The extreme crackdown on our civil rights by the Trump administration, from our right to vote to our right to protest and free speech.. 

• The attacks on black and brown Americans, immigrants, trans people, and other communities.

• The slashing of programs that working people rely on, including Medicaid, SNAP, and Social Security. 

Congressman John R. Lewis: The Good Troublemaker

John Lewis dedicated his life to civil rights, human dignity, and building what he called “The Beloved Community.” Born in 1940 near Troy, Alabama, he was inspired by the Montgomery Bus Boycott and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

As a student at Fisk University, Lewis organized sit-ins and joined the 1961 Freedom Rides, facing beatings and arrests to challenge segregation. From 1963 to 1966, he led the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), urging Americans to get into “good trouble, necessary trouble” for justice.

At just 23, Lewis spoke at the 1963 March on Washington. Two years later, he helped lead the Selma to Montgomery march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge, where he was brutally attacked on “Bloody Sunday.” National outrage helped push forward the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

Lewis later led major voter registration efforts and added millions of Black and Brown voters to the rolls. Elected to Congress in 1986, he served Georgia’s Fifth District for 17 terms and championed the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act.

Until his death in 2020, he was known as “the conscience of Congress”—a fearless voice for equality, democracy, and justice.