The Veneer Hiding Racism Begins to Peal

We are living in an America that I’ve never known. Always, always, always the nation’s political leaders have condemned violence whether it arose from civil or political unrest.

Our president fans the flames.

After NBA players boycotted their playoff games in light of the shooting of Jacob Blake, our moron in chief told reporters: “I think what they’re doing to the NBA in particular is gonna destroy basketball.” He also noted that it threatened the NBA, which sounds like a warning to team owners who generally have supported their players’ decisions.

Our klutz-in-chief talks about basketball as if he knows the game and its fans, but he says nothing about the shooting of Blake, rationalizes the killing in Kenosha, and cheers his supporters shooting paint gun pellets at protesters in Portland. He incites fear when he claims suburbanites will lose their valuable homes, Democratic leaders will allow crime to run rampant, and he—the man who would not join the Army because of bone spurs—is America’s Rambo, a deranged, PTSD warrior who has forgotten how to be a civilian or to follow orders. He has a patent on the deranged part.

It took him two months to figure out that he cannot activate the National Guard without a request from a state’s governor. He still has not learned that the federal agents in Portland never were trained in crowd control and whose paramilitary tactics enflame emotions in the city, drawing even more protesters. Thank you, Mr. President.

During his acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention, he said, “Your vote will decide whether we protect law-abiding Americans, or whether we give free rein to violent anarchists and agitators, and criminals who threaten our citizens.” He is offering Americans a supper of fear of the underclass who so envy whiteness and wealth that they will do anything to have their share, and without being said, he is adding, Suburbanites, protect your virginal daughters for they are most desired. (You must remember that this is from a man who implied that if he wasn’t married, he would have dated Ivanka. A sick thought.)

He weaves his bigotry and perversion in his language and over the past decade, he has turned  it into an art form, modeled on the advice of Special Counsel to Senator Joseph McCarthy Roy Cohn and Brietbart boil Steve Miller. During the seventies, Cohn represented many people, including Mob bosses and Donald Trump. He taught the young Trump the in’s and out’s of manipulating the media, local government, and the legal system. Miller now appears to be Trump’s new Cohn, who is fine-tuning the president’s focus and language. 

“The language at the convention comes from the ‘white genocide’ conspiracy theory, which warns, among other things, that brown and Black people will destroy white civilization with the help of their anti-racist allies. It echoed that of the racist-dystopian novel The Camp of the Saints, which Stephen Miller, Mr. Trump’s senior policy adviser and speechwriter, promoted in 2015 through the right-wing website Breitbart,” wrote Jean Guerrero, author of Hatemonger: Stephen Miller, Donald Trump and the White Nationalist Agenda, in the New York Times.

White genocide sounds extreme, much like the notions behind the far-right’s Great Boogaloo, a civil war. The protagonists will be the weapon bearing far right activists; the antagonists will be the weapon stealing federal government or leftists. Such movements aren’t new to America.

In the 1850s, there was the Know Nothing Movement, more formally known as the Native American Party. (In this case, native did not refer to Native Americans as we use the term today. It refers to the white, Protestants settlers.) They feared that the papists (Roman Catholics) were conspiring to overthrow America for the Vatican.

The party didn’t change America, but its members managed to kill more than three dozen Catholics during the local elections of 1855. (The name has a ring to it. It accurately describes the preferred behavior of the Republican Party—the Know Nothings—because the leaders of the party act as if they know nothing of what Donald is doing to the party, the country, and our democracy.)

What seems clear from most of these movements: They are born from a fear based on inaccurate information. One death resulting from a movement of morons is one too many.

It’s time for discussion, for seeking solutions. 

In a Time of Crisis, Kushner Is an Idiot. Son-in-Law Like Father-in-Law

You can leave it to Trumpian relatives to piss on good news in troubling times.

One day after major league athletes boycotted games in support of the Black Lives Matter protestors in Kenosha,  a man born with a silver spoon in his mouth offer this up to the America public: “Look, I think that the NBA players are very fortunate they have the financial position where they’re able to take a night off from work without having to have the consequences to themselves financially. So they have that luxury, which is great.” Those were the words of presidential son-in-law Jared Kushner.

He, like most of the Trumpian world, missed the point.

First, they don’t have the luxury. They risked offending fans, many of whom looked to the playoffs as a means of forgetting about the pandemic, the sour economy, racial injustice, and the Trump administration’s mishandling of all three. That means revenue, which in turn affects income.

Second, most face consequences identical to that of George Floyd, Jacob Blake, and Breonna Taylor (unfortunately, the list goes on and on) every day. They might ask of you: When was the last time your limo was pulled over for no reason at all?

Third, they were not born into a family with a multimillion real estate empire like the Kushner’s. They didn’t have the luxurious senior year of high school when their fathers donated $2.5 million to Harvard. Yours did, and then you were admitted.

They didn’t have the resources to buy 666 Fifth Avenue that drained resources of the Kushner’s.

They didn’t marry the daughter of a real estate developer, who drove six casinos into bankruptcy and who couldn’t get financing from one New York Bank, driving him overseas to places like Russia to get financing.

They didn't land a cushy and powerful government job because they are the son-in-law to the president.

Boy, aren’t the NBA players just plain ole lucky?

Kushner arrogantly added: “Look, I think with the NBA, there’s a lot of activism, and I think that they’ve put a lot of slogans out. But I think what we need to do is turn that from slogans and signals to actual action that’s going to solve the problem.” That’s true, and I’m sure every boycotting professional athletes agrees. They voted with their careers. They could ask if Jared and Donald have done the same.

So, Jared, when are you and Donald going to come up with programs and legislation to deal with America’s systemic racism?

Never, at least based on the last night of the Republican National Convention. As noted in the New York Times: "Seldom if ever has a political party spent so much time during a convention insisting in explicit terms that its nominee was not a racist or a sexist, and that its standard-bearer was, perhaps despite public appearances, a person of empathy and good character."

To paraphrase Hamlet, “Methinks thou protests too much.”

The whiteness of some Republicans bleeds through the rhetoric.  Senator Thomas Cotton of Arkansas, a critic of the Black Lives Moment, spoke at the convention. He offered this phrase of unison: “We need a president who stands up for America, not one who takes a knee.”

This is the Republican Party of Donald Trump. At a time of rising anxiety about racial injustice among all Americans, Donald has a staunch BLM critic ridicule a symbol embraced by the BLM movement and others as a protest against racial inequity.

So, Jared, what were you saying about the players being lucky.

Professional Athletes: Our New Citizen Heroes

Jacob Blake opened an SUV door. Kenosha police officer Rusten Sheskey grabbed Blake’s white shirt and shot seven times. Blake’s three children sat in the back seat—terrified. Blake lies paralyzed in the hospital.

President Donald does not comment. Later, he threatens to send federal agency officers to Kenosha to stem the violence that broke in one of America’s most segregated cities. He also claimed to be sending the National Guard. (Not your call, Donald. That’s for the governor of Wisconsin.)

Seventeen-year-old Kyle Rittenhouse is charged with murdering two men participating in the Kenosha Black Lives Matter march. During the incidents, some 20 gunshots were fired, most not from Rittenhouse. Police do nothing.

No comment from Donald.

After a call to arms on social media, packs of armed White men “protect” Kenosha.

No comment from Donald.

Speakers at the Republican National Convention paint Donald as the exemplar of racial justice.

The worst hurricane in Gulf history hits the coast.

No comment from Donald.

He cannot comment. He is preoccupied with inaccurate labels for Joe Biden, Democrats, and anyone who disagrees with his moronic positions, such as Covid 19 will disappear by Easter. (Maybe Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years? His speakers warn of Biden’s “nepotism,” as his adult children and wife speak at the convention—all of whom also worked on the convention.)

He cannot comment. He is basking in the limelight of the Republican convention, much of which seems to violate the Hatch Act. I can hear him saying to Don Jr.: “While if I can’t get my face on Mount Rushmore, this is almost as good.”

He has taken his black marker and rubbed out American history and tradition and packed the result into four days in Washington—while ignoring the anger, frustration, and fear caused by the racial injustice in America. He’s no President. He is a demagogue.

Too many Democrats have remained silent as well.

There's no courage in politics. They hide in their silence. Better to stick one's head in the sand.

The nation’s professional athletes have emerged as America’s leaders, and they are asking how many videos like that of Blake do Americans need to see before change occurs. More importantly, how many do they need to see before they admit there's racial injustice in America.

They assumed the mantel of leadership yesterday afternoon. The Milwaukee Bucks made an unprecedented move. Its players boycotted the fifth playoff game with the Orlando Magic. The players issued this statement: “We are calling for justice for Jacob Blake and demand the officers be held accountable. For this to occur, it’s imperative for the Wisconsin state Legislature to reconvene after months of inaction and take up meaningful measures to address issues of police accountability, brutality and criminal justice reform.” Quickly other NBA teams followed the lead forged by the Bucks.

That’s leadership.

The WNBA Washington Mystics arrived wearing jerseys with Blake’s name. The Milwaukee Brewers canceled its game against the Cincinnati Reds. The Dodgers, Mariners, Padres, and Giants followed suit. (The Yankees, my team, played two games against the Braves. It lost both. Good.) Five Major League Soccer games were postponed. Naomi Osaka boycotted playing in the Western and Southern Tennis Open, which players use as a tune-up for the U.S. Open. She tweeted: “Before I am an athlete, I am a Black woman. And as a Black woman, I feel as though there are much more important matters at hand that need immediate attention, rather than watching me play tennis.” Later, the U.S. Tennis Association suspended the tournament.

That’s leadership.

Each league, especially the NBA and WNBA, have shown Americans how to live and work in the world infected by Covid 19. These men and women have distracted us from the sad state of living in isolation and with economic uncertainty. They have stepped forward about the social injustice in America.

Yesterday, scores of athletes walked away from careers they have built since childhood. Few individuals have ever shown that much dedication to a career. They stopped what they have dreamt about for a lifetime. There’s risk involved. Will fans return? Will fans reject them as they did the NFL players who took a knee? Even with that economic pressure, the player’s management stood behind them.

These men and women forced us to turn off our televisions and smartphones. They forced America to take notice. They have America listening. Truly listening, maybe for the first time. They have gone beyond their obligation as  public figures. They stood together as citizens.

Catholicism and Racism: The Failure of the Individual (and Yeah Kamala Harris!!!)

My last post ended with the hope that the road to equity in American society has finally begun in earnest. Yesterday, there was a sign. Kamala Harris was selected as the first Black, Asian American as the vice-presidential nominee for a major political party. Her selection marked also a step forward for women and women of color in particular.

It’s one step. There must be another, and another, and another. They will be difficult, especially with individuals like Donny who has no empathy for anyone who’s not White or male. He feeds the fear and racism of Christians across the country. Theologian James Cone, the founder of Black theology, asked, “What is it about the Catholic definition of justice that makes many persons of that faith progressive in their attitude toward the poor in Central America but reactionary in their views toward the poor in black America?”

It played out in the Catholic Church during the Sixties. A friend recently wrote about a priest, a relative. The priest was assigned to an inner city parish. The school, gym, and theater were closed. The community, primarily Latino and African American, asked for access. The priest went to the pastor who responded: "This place was built by whites and it is for whites only!"

We find it easy to point out the injustice of others. During the Sixties, Northerners pointed at Southern injustice inflicted on African Americans, but they never saw or dealt with the systemic racism in their own backyard.

It’s true of all Christians.

Recently in the New York Times, Elizabeth Bruenig noted “about one in five Americans identify as Catholic, and as of 2018, roughly six in 10 white Catholics felt police killings of Black men [1]were isolated incidents rather than evidence of a profound and lethal bias. Prominent Catholic commentators, including Bill O’Reilly and Father Dwight Longenecker, fear and reject the Black Lives Matter movement."

Let's start with O'Reilly and Longenecker. Neither are prominent as far as Catholics are concerned. Neither are spokespeople for the Catholic Church. Neither are promoting the Christianity of Pope Francis.[1]

Unfortunately, both are Catholic. Unfortunately, Bill O’Reilly is Irish.

Facts and fear feed their solipsistic pomposity. For example, in an interview five years ago, Patrisse Cullors said she studied Marxism and activism while working with the Bus Riders Union as a teenager. Additionally, she and the Black Lives Movement endorsed the LGBT movement. Marxism is an O’Reilly hot button, and he makes it sound as if Cullors and BLM have a direct pipeline to Putin. And Longenecker is sexually challenged.

Let’s forget Longenecker as out of touch, out of date, and maybe out of something else. O’Reilly builds an argument on a fact. The Black Lives Matter Foundation, Inc., has a dogmatic communistic bent. So, did Jesus at times. So what? The movement in America’s streets was not about Marxism. (Most people do not know there's a Black Lives Matter Foundation.) It was about the sanctity of human life. It was called Black Lives Matter not out of respect for the foundation but out of a demand for equitable treatment by police

And America is not as Christian as many of its citizens profess.

Catholics lag in racial justice, as do all other Christian groups, according to a PRRI report. The nonpartisan group found that about 50% of all Christians agree ”socioeconomic disparities between black and white Americans are due to lack of effort by black Americans.” There wasn’t much difference between Catholics and other Christians.

Yes, 63% of White Catholics said the killings of Black men by police were isolated incidents, but White mainline Protestants were only four points lower while White evangelicals were eight points higher. Meanwhile, nearly three-quarters of Americans say African Americans face “a lot” of discrimination, and nearly 60% of White Americans believe their “white” skin color gives them advantages over Black Americans. There are some 40% of White Americans who claim Black Americans just don’t work hard enough even though half of White Americans agree that slavery and decades of subsequent discrimination make it difficult for Blacks to make economic gains.

Essentially, 50% of White Christians are racist. Heck, or maybe I should have written hell, they’re not even Christian.

As depressing as that is, I don’t think America’s racism has anything to do with religion. They share identical heritages—western European culture, a human creation. In that culture, as in most, there’s hubris, and that hubris shaped an artifice. Clinging to the notion of the continent’s grandeur and failing to recognize the grandeur on any other continent, they designated themselves as the heirs to the grandeur they saw as Rome. They modeled their buildings and art and literature on those of Romans (who stole it from the Greeks).

The Renaissance with its arts, literature, politics, military, and science constructed the jumping board for Modern Europe. With the success of a relatively small class of people, hubris expanded.[2] It swallowed humanity. It birthed sun kings, rulers by divine right. The European elite set themselves as greater than others, and their subjects followed suit declaring themselves greater than others. They created a world of us and them, and the them were always inferior. It’s the heritage of Europeans and, therefore, the heritage of White Americans.

That always present element ties the bind. The prejudice of the West blinds White Americans to their own bigotry, frequently a subconscious (not unconscious) sense of superiority. Why, for example, was Africa called the Dark Continent? It certainly was not dark to Africans. Europeans saw darkness even when there was light. The flora, fauna, cultures, religions, languages, and arts were unknown to them. They did not think themselves strangers invading another world. They were bringing their light, but it wasn’t so Africans needed to see. It was so Europeans would not have to adjust to an entirely different way of living. They saw no need for theirs was the superior culture.

It remains today, now, in 2020 America, and it denies African Americans the dignity guaranteed to all citizens. More accurately to all human beings.

We bowed to the pressures of the civil rights movements. Our bow to change, for those willing to change, is ironic. We, meaning White Americans, don’t understand why we must change. We don’t see ourselves as the problem. Yet, White America is the problem. Not African Americans. Not Catholicism, mainstream Protestantism, or evangelicalism. The sooner we—meaning White people—recognize that we are the problem, the sooner we will find a solution. We need fixing, not our religions, nor African Americans. Us. Our leaders and our followers. I include myself as well.

[1] On June 10^th, called George Floyd’s name twice. He backed an American Bishop who knelt in prayer during a BLM protest. Observers claim the Vatican was encouraging anti-racism protesters and pointing to where Catholics should stand on the issue.

[2] Hubris isn’t unique to Europe. Even today, it exists on every continent. It exploits on every continent. It enslaves on every continent. There’s one major difference. European philosophical and political traditions, at least since the late 18^th century, have enshrined the liberty and dignity of all citizens. Rulers have called it the state’s sacred trust, but they have rarely fulfilled their obligations to it.

 

Catholicism and Race: It's Only Just Begun--Part One

I am a recovering Catholic, raised in a predominantly Irish neighborhood in Brooklyn. That makes me a BIC (Brooklyn Irish Catholic, distinct from a Baltimore Irish Catholic).

Each Sunday, we--the sons and daughters of firefighters, cops, carpenters, and electricians--dressed up and walked the streets in their Buster Browns and Mary Janes, the names of our shoes. We proceeded almost in unison for nine o'clock mass at St. Vincent Ferrer Church. We sat, stood, knelt to the memorized rhythm of the Catholic liturgy. We could do it with our eyes closed. Latin phrases triggered our response.

Most didn’t know what the phrases meant, but we altar boys (no girls allowed at the time) knew the English translation of the responsorial portions. A few kids held black leather-bound missals with a page marker of silk red ribbon. It was the missal of an adult, a gift of prestige. They followed the Latin phrases on the left-hand page with the English on the right.

If that wasn't enough Catholicism, my parents sent me to Catholic grammar school and Catholic high school, where I study religion every semester for a dozen years. Without much thought, I decided to attend Fairfield University, a Jesuit college in Connecticut for its engineering program affiliated with the University of Connecticut. (I dropped out of that program. I elected English, it being my second language after Brooklynese.)

I followed the routine religiously for some 13 years, even as I was rattled by doubt. (I didn't count the first six since that was my parents' responsibility.) I read Plato, Aristotle, Aquinas, Augustine, Hume, Merton, de Chardin, and the list goes on. By the time, I reached 20, Sunday mornings were for sleep, and God was for others. I no longer was Catholic. I joined the non-believers. I signed up as an atheist.

My Irish Catholic father wondered why he spent all that money on a Catholic education. My mother also fainted. She had so hoped me or one of my brothers or my sister would enter religious life. With my announcement, then there was none.

When I married my Catholic wife, I promised to raise our children Catholic. We did. Each Sunday, we attended mass as a newly married couple, new parents with a crying baby, parents with another crying baby and fidgeting older brother, and so on. I did not stop attending services for another quarter of a century. During that time, I listened to more than 2000 sermons given by more than a dozen different priests from a dozen different clerical backgrounds. Most bored me. That excludes the professors of theology and philosophy to whom I listened for five semesters.

Never, however, did I heard any religious affirm, justify, or rationalize racism.  Not in the classroom, the hallways, the church, or from the pulpit. Not once.

I heard the opposite. I heard love all people in the Beatitudes. I imagined it when Jesus asked a lawyer what was the greatest commandment. He answered. “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself." He then asked Jesus, “Who is my neighbor?” Jesus told the story the Samaritan, whom the Jews did not regard as equals. With the final commandment: “Go and do likewise.” Jesus did not define our neighbors by their color, religion, or whatever. Then Jesus issued his final and most difficult commandment: “As I have loved you, love one another.”

That’s the Catholicism I heard and learned.

The institution is another matter. Abraham, Jesus, Mohammed, Buddha created religions, not institutions. Their followers created institutions, and with their creations came the failings of their creators.

The self-righteousness and prejudice amongst Catholics, even their religious leaders, is legend: the destruction of Alexandria’s library, the four Crusades, the “convert-or-die” baptisms of indigenous people in North and South America, and the tacit endorsement of the indignities inflicted on African Americans by members of the Catholic community. The leaders of the Catholic Church in America and Rome failed to condemn this mortal of mortal sins. Too many participated in the sin of slavery and Jim Crow.

Why should the institution of Catholicism be so different than American institutions? The rhetoric of both portends to the protection of individual rights. Yet, American institutions always have failed African Americans. Slavery should have taught everyone a lesson. It didn’t. The failure of reconstruction provided another lesson missed. Race riots, more appropriately called massacres, came with lessons: New York City Riots of 1863, the Philadelphia riots of 1918, Greenwood (0K) riots of 1921, and Rosewood (FL) riots of 1923.[1]

Bigotry, prejudice, and hatred are not the trait of one group. They are humankind’s sin of hubris, our manifestation of Cain, and it has roiled our country for more than 246 years.

Hope blooms though. During the past 50 years, a miracle has begun to move across Western civilization. More people recognize what was cannot be what will be. They realize they must live up to the tenets of the religions that form, in part, the foundations of their societies. They must uphold the rules of liberty for all—equally.

The evolution is incomplete, but evolution is never complete. One change for the better leads to another change for the better. Our souls seek to rise above their current place to achieve a greatness without seeking the greatness in and of itself.

The trip has only just begun, and it will jar us for a long time to come.

[1] More African Americans died during these four events than those who have died in all the race riots of the past 50 years, I believe.

"Change Is Gonna Come", "Blowin' in the Wind", "No More Auction Block", "We Shall Overcome"--If Not Now, When?

A few nights ago, I was eating dinner and listening to "my" station on Pandora. It was Otis Redding's turn. He sings "Change is Gonna Come." Otis and the song touched this child of the 60s, a person who remembers believing the world was changing. King's dream was coming true. The folly of youth.

Change is Gonna Come

I was born by the river in a little tent
Oh and just like the river I've been running ev'r since
It's been a long, a long time coming
But I know a change gonna come, oh yes it will

It's been too hard living, but I'm afraid to die
'Cause I don't know what's up there, beyond the sky
Oh and just like the river I've been running ev'r since
It's been a long, a long time coming
But I know a change gonna come, oh yes it will

It's been too hard living, but I'm afraid to die
'Cause I don't know what's up there, beyond the sky
It's been a long, a long time coming
But I know a change gonna come, oh yes it will

I go to the movie and I go downtown
Somebody keep tellin' me don't hang around
It's been a long, a long time coming
But I know a change gonna come, oh yes it will

Then I go to my brother
And I say brother help me please
But he winds up knockin' me
Back down on my knees, oh

There have been times that I thought I couldn't last for long
But now I think I'm able to carry on
It's been a long, a long time coming
But I know a change is gonna come, oh yes it will

As he finished, I tried to remember who wrote the song. Sam Cooke came to mind. (My mental computer is slower. My doctor told me that my hard drive is too small for the information I've saved. No updates available.)

I didn't know (and I can't blame my hard drive for this one) what provoked Cooke to write it. The answer is depressing.

When Cooke heard Bob Dylan's "Blowing in the Wind" in the early 60s, he was annoyed that a White guy wrote a song about Black oppression before he had. The song impressed him, and he immediately included it in his repertoire.

Blowin' in the Wind

How many roads must a man walk down
Before you call him a man
How many seas must the white dove sail
Before she sleeps in the sand

Yes, and how many times must the cannonballs fly
Before they are forever banned
The answer, my friend, is blowing in the wind
The answer is blowing in the wind

Yes, and how many years can a mountain exist
Before it washed to the sea
Yes, and how many years can some people exist
Before they're allowed to be free

Yes, and how many times can a man turn his head
And pretend that he just doesn't see
The answer, my friend, is blowing in the wind
The answer is blowing in the wind

Yes, and how many times must a man look up
Before he can see the sky
Yes, and how many ears must one man have
Before he can hear people cry

Yes, and how many deaths will it take till he knows
That too many people have died
The answer, my friend, is blowing in the wind

Competition didn't inspire "Change is Gonna Come." Life did. Cooke was traveling with his band and wife. It was late. They went to check into a hotel where they had booked a reservation. When the clerk saw them, the hotel suddenly filled up. Cooke was furious. They left--after a great deal of shouting and horn honking. They drove to the only hotel in the area that accepted Black guests. Waiting at the hotel front door were the sheriff and his deputies. They arrested Cooke for disturbing the peace.

Cooke then wrote "Change Is Gonna Come."

Dylan, though, didn't "beat" Cooke to the punch.  He adapted a spiritual sung by former slaves who had fled to Canada after Britain made slavery illegal in 1833. The song: "No More Auction Block." Listen to Martha Redbone sing this powerful song. You will also hear the origins of "We Shall Overcome" in the melody.

No More Auction Block

No more auction block for me
No more, no more
No more auction block for me
Many thousands gone

No more driver's lash for me
No more, no more
No more driver's lash for me
Many thousands gone
No more whip lash for me
No more, no more
No more pine assault for me
Many thousands gone

No more auction block for me
No more, no more
No more auction block for me
Many thousands gone.

One question remains.

No more racial inequity.
No more, no more
No more racial inequity
Many thousands gone

Almost two centuries have passed. Four songs were composed. Four songs have been performed by hundreds. Four songs have been sung by millions.

These numbers rekindle the fire of my folly. No longer for me. I'll be worm meal in a decade or two. For my African-American grandsons. For their liberation from the American auction block of racial inequity. For my European-American granddaughter who like her cousins deserves a better America.

So, the question is: Why is a quest for the end of injustice and for equity folly?

If not folly, then what?
If not now, when?
[In tribute to the late Civil Rights leader, Congressman, and inspiration for all--John Lewis.]