Quick viewing(Text Mode)

JOHN LEWIS: Edmund Pettus Bridge (Credit: Alabama Department of Archives Co-Operation and Civil Rights and History)

JOHN LEWIS: Edmund Pettus Bridge (Credit: Alabama Department of Archives Co-Operation and Civil Rights and History)

1965, John was brutally attacked as he and other civil rights leaders crossed the : (Credit: Department of Archives Co-operation and civil rights and History)

WRITTEN BY DAVID THOMPSON John Lewis, who died aged 80 on 17 July, fought will write of his character, his contribution to So, at the age of 18, John Lewis first came to “That was all his lift for the poor and minorities and will be building a better America and his selflessness understand the potential role of co-operatives. remembered as a icon. in pushing for pursue change. He deserves every Highlander was an influential school: Rosa the purpose On 7 March 1965, John was brutally attacked accolade and award he earned, and represents Parks had attended in 1955 and was also influ- as he and other civil rights leaders marched the best of America. He saw the future of our na- enced by Septima Clark. She later said: “I was 42 of the place, across the Edmund Pettus Bridge, toward the tion and did all he could to lead us there. years old and it was one of the few times in my State Capitol in Selma, Alabama. It remains one I will let others more capable than me sing his life up to that point when I did not feel any hos- to light fires, of the most notorious images of violent racism in praises for a lifetime of service. What I want to tility from white people... it was hard to leave.” and to refuel the USA. He bore the scars of his fractured skull focus on is his support for co-operatives. John But she did, and only months later, with her for his entire life – as does America. always wanted co-operatives to build a better, new-found confidence, she refused to give up her those whose I first met John in 1980, when the National fairer, and more diverse and equitable America. seat on a Montgomery bus. Consumer Cooperative Bank (NCCB) worked Here is a short chronology of that commitment. At Highlander, John heard sing fires were with him to spread the word of co-operatives to In 1958 he attended a weekend retreat at the the re-worded hymn, , first black leaders and communities. I was tasked Highlander Folk School in Tennessee. In his created by black composer Charles Tindley. And already lit.” with arranging John’s meetings across the USA autobiography, Walking With The Wind, he writes it was there that he first sat down for a meal at and traveling with him throughout . that before going to Highlander, he knew a lot the same table with white people. It would be a He was soft-spoken, a good listener and uniquely about the uniquely inter-racial Highlander Folk seminal moment. “Of course, I left Highlander humble in everything he did. It was a wonderful, School and its lonely, brave work striving for so- on fire”, John wrote. “That was the purpose of memorable journey. cial justice in the South. At that time, Highlander the place, to light fires, and to refuel those whose The last time I saw him was on 5 May 2010, itself was a co-operative and taught its attendees fires were already lit.” when I was being inducted into the Coopera- about the development and use of co-operatives. In 1958 he attended a meeting at Spellman tive Hall of Fame. I thought we’d have about John wrote: “The single person who most College in Atlanta on to 10-15 minutes with John, but he gave us over impressed me that weekend was a woman – a Segregation. There, he was taught the tactics of an hour, speaking about the South and his life 60-year-old organiser named Septima Clark.” pacifist resistance by – who had working with co-operatives, sharing some of On John’s Island, , Clark worked already passed on his lessons to and his stories about the Federation of Southern with Esau Jenkins to teach black people on Martin Luther King to use in the Montgomery Bus Cooperatives. He told us the soul-stirring story of the island how to pass the rigid tests used to Boycott. Bayard Rustin went on to organise the personally forgiving the white police who prevent them from obtaining the right to vote. 1963 March on Washington from his apartment in bludgeoned him on the Edmund Pettus Bridge. This voter education was done secretly in the a union-sponsored housing co-op in NYC. The officer was dying of cancer and wanted backroom of a food co-op that Esau and other At the same Spellman gathering, John met and to apologise for his actions and to be forgiv- black islanders had set up to help themselves. was influenced by (1903-1986) – in Left: John Lewis, Amer- en. John and the former officer had talked and The programme that started in the island’s little my view, is the most unsung woman in the US ican civil rights activist then prayed together in the same room that we co-op store – called “The Progressive Club” – civil rights movement. In the 1930s, she was na- at meeting of American were in. Part of his funeral procession included would go on to become the Citizenship School tional director of the Young Negroes Cooperative Society of Newspaper transporting his casket across that same bridge. Program, whose 900 schools registered millions League and was developing other co-operatives Editors, 6 April 1964 John Lewis will long be remembered for the of blacks to vote in the South for the first time in in Harlem and . She taught young (Credit: person he was and the passions he held. Many their lives. civil rights activist about co-ops and Library of Congress)

44 | SEPTEMBER 2020 SEPTEMBER 2020 | 45 was later hired by the NAACP to teach about Martin Luthur King co-operatives across the country. Ella also attend- gives his ‘I have a ed meetings organised by the Cooperative League dream speech of the USA (Now NCBA) and was the first staff member of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) to work for Martin Luther King. Ella also wanted to lend her organising skills to the young activists and volunteered to become the first staff member of the Southern Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). In 1964 John was elected chair of SNCC; he was one of the who had represented the organisers of the March on Washington on 28 August 1963. The other five members were: , head of the Congress on Racial Equality, CORE (who lived at the Chatham Green Co-op in NYC, which had been sponsored by credit unions); Martin Luther King (lifetime supporter of co-ops); A. Philip Randolph (writ- er about co-ops, who lived in the Dunbar Apart- ments, the first housing co-op for black people in NYC, and later lived in Penn South Co-op, NYC); , executive director of the NAACP (who later joined the Parkway Village Housing Co-op in NYC); and (president of the Urban League, which organised housing and In 1980 he joined the National Consumer I should go, and in the end he felt I should. other co-ops). Cooperative Bank (NCCB) as community relations In his opinion, the opportunity was there to From his co-op apartment in Penn South, director. NCCB president Carol Greenwald instigate black co-operatives as democratical- Bayard Rustin hosted the first meeting of the asked me to arrange tours for John of black ly run organisations. In a nation that barred group that would go on to organise the March. communities in the US where he could speak black people from voting and political pow- Rachelle Horowitz and , who lived about the bank and its nonprofit arm as er, co-ops could be a nonviolent way to build at the same co-op, were key members of the too, but after hearing endless forceful rendi- resources for co-operatives. a new society. In 1989, the Black Consumers’ march staff. Norm Hill, who attended the meet- tions of the speech the women eventually had “That was I had the honour of being on a two-week Union registered the first black co-operative in ing and worked on the march, later moved to the to kick John out. They had already sent Bob the purpose tour of California with him. We met many im- South Africa. co-op, and still lives there today. Dylan – who had stayed there to rehearse his songs portant black leaders: mayor Tom Bradley Throughout this time, John was a good friend During 1963, Rachelle put up many of march for the march and also took the opportunity to of the place, (Los Angeles); mayor Willie Brown (San Fran- and champion of the Atlanta-based Federa- volunteers at her Penn South Co-op apartment serenade Dorie Ladner – on his way). cisco); Assembly member – now Congress tion of Southern Cooperatives (FSC). He spoke including Eleanor Holmes (now the non-voting A few days later, a 23-year-old John Lewis to light fires, member – Maxine Waters; and state senator at FSC’s 50th Anniversary in Birmingham, Congress member for Washington, DC) and civil gave his speech to the nation from in front of the and to refuel Diane Watson. They were all excited to see John Alabama, in 2017. The National Coopera- rights activists and sisters, Joyce and Dorie Lad- Lincoln Memorial. and eagerly listened to the opportunities provid- tive Business Association reported: “During a ner. In Walking With the Wind, John wrote about In 1967 John Lewis joined the Southern Regional those whose ed by the NCCB and its nonprofit arm. Bradley stirring speech at the awards ceremony, promi- being in NYC just before the march and having Council (SRC) in Atlanta, Georgia, as direc- and Brown both later gave help to food co-ops nent civil rights leader Rep. John Lewis (D-GA) Joyce Ladner, Tom Kahn and Eleanor Norton tor of its Community Organization Project. His fires were assisted by the NCCB’s nonprofit arm. called co-operatives a ‘key strategy’ in the civil read over his speech – which would end up be- task was to establish co-ops, credit unions and In 1988 my wife Ann and I had hosted Eldridge rights movement. Echoing Martin Luther King, ing the most contentious of the day. Roy Wilkins community development groups in the Deep already lit.” Mathebula, a visitor from South Africa, whose Lewis urged audience members to keep their wanted it to be left out of the programme; but South. “This was hands-on work, and I loved organisation, the Black Consumers Union, ‘’ of achieving true and lasting Over page: President others threatened to boycott the event if it were it. I felt at home again, literally,” he wrote in his wanted to develop co-ops for black people in equality, despite setbacks.” Barack Obama hugs not read. autobiography. South Africa. At that time, under apartheid, only In 2010, I met John Lewis for the last time John Lewis, after his Rachelle told me in an interview that the In 1978 President Jimmy Carter made him whites could develop and operate co-operatives and spoke with him about about his life working introduction during the hotel in NYC where John was staying had thin associate director of ACTION under Sam Brown in the country. Eldridge’s organisation invited me with co-operatives. event to commemorate walls and John was practising his speech there (at one time also a board member of the NCCB). to South Africa to give talks on what types of co-op We have surely lost a champion, but honour the 50th Anniversary of too loudly. The hotel manager asked John to John’s staff included 125 people in 10 regional could be organised and to work with gov- a giant. He was the son of a sharecropper who Bloody Sunday and the practise his speech elsewhere or be evicted offices. The staff oversaw 5,000 Vista volun- ernment agencies on a pathway to legalise went on to shape our conscience and our nation. Selma to Montgomery from the hotel. John asked Rachelle if he could teers and over 230,000 elderly volunteers. “We co-ops for black people. At the time, there We have a moment now in which to reflect on the civil rights marches, come over to her apartment at the co-op to tried to help them through a range of programs was an international boycott of South Africa, unique opportunity John Lewis has given us to at the Edmund Pettus rehearse; she figured that the co-op’s thick similar to those I had directed with the Southern which I did not want to break. John, by that re-direct ourselves to the co-operative world that Bridge 2015. (Credit: brick walls would make a good sound curtain. Regional Council,” he wrote. “We helped form time, was a Congress member representing he wished us to create. It is time for co-operators White House Photo by Dorie, Joyce, and Eleanor were staying there, co-operatives in rural communities.” Atlanta. I asked his advice on whether or not to return to making “Good Trouble”. Pete Souza)

46 | SEPTEMBER 2020 SEPTEMBER 2020 | 47

Top View