The lessons of John Lewis
50 years ago he fought for equality. Now the fight for the next 50 is up to us.
On Feb. 19, 2013, I had the honor of meeting Rep. John Lewis at the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund gala, which I co-emceed w/ Juju Chang. When I told him I was a journalism professor, he said: "Thank you for teaching journalists. You know, without them covering us, we could not have done what we did." #LifeHighlight
***
John Lewis died this week. He was the last living speaker from the March on Washington with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, and he was not just a legend — he was a man firmly in the middle of the fight for racial equality in America for the last five decades.
Here’s his speech at the March on Washington:
And here’s what John Lewis was doing just last month. He was with President Obama and others, talking about mental health during a racism pandemic:
What an absolute force of nature. You cannot read enough about him and his life, and I encourage you to really take the time to truly learn about the life of John Lewis. Learn from him. Be an ally.
There is a racism pandemic in America, and it is up to us to continue the fight of John Lewis and all the men and women who stood with him and Dr. King.
Hear the recording of the John Lewis tribute episode on my WBAI Radio on Saturday w/ Mary C. Curtis, political reporter; Prof. Manu Bhagavan of Hunter College; and Thahitun Mariam of the Bronx Mutual Aid Network.
- Sree
This newsletter is produced w/ Zach Peterson (@zachprague).
Reminder: The best way to know when I’m on the air, and see all my archived Covid19 shows, is to subscribe to my YouTube channel. We’ve been going for 130 straight days and we have no plans of stopping!
My team is working with companies and nonprofits around the world to create virtual events every week. We ran the production of T4, the world’s largest gathering of teachers - 100,000 educators in 88 countries, in English, Spanish, Arabic. We can help you, too. Don’t cancel or postpone your conference - contact us! sree@sree.net
Read Something
Here’s John Lewis discussing what it was like to know Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., and to march with him, and to speak next to him, and to fight for something that is right beyond the shadow of a doubt. Great interview with Vann R. Newkirk II in The Atlantic from 2018.
Also worth reading: Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s 5-chapter obituary by Tamar Hallerman and NYT’s obituary by Katherine Q. Seeley.
And worth watching: John Lewis on The View two years ago - post-Trump inauguration, post-Charlottesville, pre-George Floyd. Rep. Lewis may have been a legend, but he was still very much in the fight.
Data Points
The Covid19 pandemic has taken an extraordinary — and disproportionate — toll on people of color in America. This is a perfect, if morbid, representation of America’s racial justice failures. It’s about so much more than police violence. Excellent reporting and visualizations here from Maria Godoy (@mgodoyh) and Daniel Wood (@DanielPWWood) @ NPR.
Watch Something
From FB post to CNN! Four years ago this week, I was on CNN with Maggie Lake discussing what began as a FB post promising my daughter I would not speak on any all-male panels or attend all-male panels. Sadly, manels are still a problem all these years later - and will continue to be during the pandemic. Many thanks to Roopa Unnikrishnan, Marci Alboher, Gina Glantz, Rose Horowitz and others who’ve inspired me and helped me along this quest. What ideas do you have to solve this problem? One idea: Take the Gender Avenger pledge!
Watch my 2016 interview here.
Odds & Ends
✉️ Read something. And then DO something. My friends S. Mitra Kalita (@mitrakalita) and Nitin Mukul (@nittynice) just launched Epicenter-NYC (@epicenter_nyc), a newsletter to get through the pandemic. It's a mix of how to give help (food banks and the donations they need) and get help (antibody tests, bike trails, Black-owned biz you can order from). It aims to create a bigger network of neighbors in these admittedly isolated times. You can subscribe here.
🗞 My Sunday #NYTReadalong, executive produced by Neil Parekh (@neilparekh), where we read the print NYT out loud every week, is live and available later from 8:30-10:30 am ET. #NYTReadalong is sponsored by Muck Rack, Magic Bus USA and Strategy Focused Group. Interested in sponsorship opportunities? Email sree@sree.net and neil@neilparekh.org. Watch today’s episode with Claire Smith, ESPN News editor and former NYT columnist here; and the archives here.
⚕️The Readalong is followed Sundays 11 am-noon ET by a new medical show I’m co-executive producing with surgeons Sujana Chandrasekhar, M.D. (@DrSujanaENT), and Marina Kurian, M.D. (@MarinaKurian), called She’s On Call (watch live or later).
🎧 Every Saturday, I host a call-in show on WBAI 99.5FM (@wbai) - "Coping with Covid19" - focused on being helpful, hopeful, and focusing on the pandemic's effects on society’s most vulnerable - the workers, the poor, the marginalized - and talk to ordinary citizens & experts on how we can emerge stronger. Listen live Saturdays from 12-2pm EST, or later. And, of course, call in or tweet questions for us using the #wbaisree hashtag! Listen to a recent episode here!
📺 A reminder to watch my Daily Global Covid19 Show. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll learn something every time. We’ve had 100+ shows and 200+ guests. Check out the archive and please subscribe to my YouTube channel. And/or sign up for my WhatsApp alerts list (it’s not your typical WhatsApp group, just a text when I’m live!). We are in partnership with Scroll.in, one of India’s best news and culture websites.
Recent highlights:
Sapphire, whose novel became Oscar-winning “Precious” (she’s newly on Twitter!)
Dr. Keiji Fukuda of HKU, former pandemics expert at WHO & CDC
👀 Did we miss anything? Make a mistake? Do you have an idea for anything we’re up to? Let us know! Let’s collaborate!