‘John Lewis: Good Trouble’
By George Robbins
With all that is currently going on with the protests nation wide, it is important that we take a look at our past which has led up to this point. People have been fighting against hatred for years and that fight continues even to today with all of the protests that we are seeing break out all over. Racism has been a leading factor for hatred spreading all over and it won’t be until people are considered equals to one another in each others’ eyes that this can change. This was first brought up at a time that is being compared to the protests now, the Civil Rights Movement. Many people were involved with the original movement, and it shaped an entire generation of thinkers moving forward.
While there is still veiled racism and even blatant racism today, there were many underlying issues that were changed which allowed for more opportunities moving forward. That movement had a number of excellent leaders with varying viewpoints that worked hard simply for the fact they knew their people were being mistreated. One such activist is the legendary John Lewis, a Democratic Representative from Georgia. Lewis’ social activism and legislative action have been an ongoing fight for over 60 years on the topics of civil rights, voting rights, gun control, health-care reform and immigration. Even today Lewis is going strong in his fight to help others and it can be seen on a still regular basis.
‘John Lewis: Good Trouble’ is an upcoming documentary that follows the titular Civil Rights activist from when he first started his endeavors back in the original movement. From the time he was young he went from someone who had never experienced racism to finding a world full of it just a little ways down the road. He grew up in Troy, Alabama which gave him a look at how his world functioned and after taking a trip to Buffalo, NY realized just how segregated his home community was. This would end up inspiring him to meet those who were involved with the Civil Rights Movement including Rosa Parks at the age of 17 and Martin Luther King Jr. at 18 years of age. Ever since then, he has been an activist who wishes to help his community and that is what the film represents.
The upcoming film ‘John Lewis: Good Trouble’ is directed by acclaimed filmmaker Dawn Porter and takes a look into the life of the man in question. She uses present-day interviews with Lewis to explore his childhood experiences growing up in Alabama to the moment he has his fateful meeting with Martin Luther King Jr. in 1957. Porter does not stop at interviewing Lewis and his family and carries on interviewing others for the film. This includes political leaders, Congressional colleagues, and other people who figure prominently in his life. For anyone interested in learning about this man, production company Magnolia Pictures has the films release date set to July 3rd, 2020.