Courtney Luciana photo
“Today is a moment where we galvanize. This is the moment where we call our brothers, sisters, and everyone that we know to activate ourselves,” AJ Johnson said. “To get up and do something about this election that we have before us! We will continue to seek out good trouble.”
Johnson (at eft in above photo), president of the Hartford Alumni Chapter of Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity Inc., was the first speaker at a ceremony held Saturday in honor ofcivil rights leader and U.S. Rep. John Robert Lewis, who passed away this past July.
Historic Black Greek letter organizations known as “The Divine Nine” joined the NAACP of Greater New Haven and officials at City Hall at the event to pay tribute to Lewis’ legacy of getting into “good trouble” by pushing citizens to vote on Nov. 3.
Lewis joined Phi Beta Sigma in 1974. He was best known for his chairmanship of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and for leading the 1965 civil rights march on the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama, known as “Bloody Sunday” because of police attacks on the marchers, captured on nationwide television.
Phi Beta Sigma’s Eastern Region marches from the Green to City Hall in memory of U.S. Rep. John Robert Lewis.
Addressing skeptics who think their vote doesn’t count because of their race, New Haven Alumni Chapter President Derek Tompkins (at far left in photo) pictured to the far left) recalled the uphill battle that Lewis and 600 other marchers faced when fighting for voting rights.
“They headed out on a 54-mile march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, for the right to vote. As they were crossing the Edmund Pettus Bridge they were met at the other end with tear gas deployed, swinging clubs and whips, and sheriff deputies on horseback knocking people over,” Tompkins said. “Brother Lewis tells of how he was knocked to the ground when the trooper hit him on the head. When he tried to get up he was met again with another blow and suffered with a fractured skull.”
Two days later, Martin Luther King Jr. led a symbolic march to the bridge. The marchers didn’t cross. On March 21, 1965, 32,000 marchers, including Lewis, headed out under federal protection of the national guard from Selma toward Montgomery. The march lasted a total of four days with 12 hours on foot everyday.
“When they reached the steps of the state Capitol in Montgomery, there was 25,000 in attendance. Something was changed,” Tompkins said. “Almost five months to the day of Bloody Sunday, the Voting Right Acts of Aug. 6, 1965 was signed. Something had changed.”
Chapter President of Eta Alpha Lambda of Alpha Phi Fraternity Alpha Sean Mosley, Chaplain Aaron Sneed Sr., and city Legislative Services Director AlLucas.
City Legislative Services Director Al Lucas said he hopes that the legacy of Lewis will be an inspiration to future generations.
“I hope that they see his work is not done. It’s one long continuum. Voter suppression is still going around the country today,” said Lucas. “I’m proud to be a part of anything that we can do to bring attention to those issues and keep the movement progressing.”
The NAACP set up a voter registration table on the Green for the event. Other booths offered Covid-19 testing and organ donor services. Faternity chapter Vice-President Tai Richardson (pictured) curated the commemoration and reminded the crowd to take advantage of these open opportunities.
“Many people that look like us are sitting in hospital beds right now afflicted with illness. They need someone, they need a kidney transplant, or something of that nature,” Richardson said. “We need more individuals that look like us, with our blood type, with our lineage to become organ donors. Don’t let this moment pass today.”
Mayor Justin Elicker encouraged the crowd to keep fighting for affordable housing, education, and meaningful change.
“Even though we’ve made a lot of progress as a nation, there’s so much more that needs to be done. These past seven months in particular and what’s going on with Covid-19 have exposed many things that everyone has known about for centuries about systemic racism and about the injustices that are put up in particular towards the black community,” Elicker said.
“We know the reality that systemic racism still exists, and I believe the one thing we can do to make change is to vote those out of office at the state level and national level who will not address the inequalities.”
“We’re not going to leave anybody behind. Let’s not only stand and honor Lewis but each other,” said New Haven State Rep. Robyn Porter. “Let us have a shift in our mindset! Stop waiting to get an invitation to the table, my people. It’s time for us to start setting our own table.”
New Haven Peace Commission member Millie Grenough reminded people to vote on a city referendum that’s on the ballot. It calls for the federal government to shift military spending toward jobs, education, environmental sustainability, and other human services instead. (Read more about that here.)
“A lot of people aren’t aware that this question is on the ballot,” Grenough said. “It’s a symbolic vote, but New York, Philadelphia, and Pittsburgh are also putting it on the ballot. These states are hoping that we can influence our tax money not to go to the Pentagon and military, but human needs.”
Greater New Haven NAACP President Doris Dumas (pictured) noted that even still in 2020 intimidation is being used as a tactic scheme to prevent people from voting .
“We must honor Congressman Lewis and the other civil rights leaders by working to fully restore the Voting Rights Act. The work of the NAACP, Black Lives Matter, and other movements is more urgent as it has ever been,” Dumas said. “We must demand justice, accountability, and equal access and fair treatment. We must help to reshape our country and use the opportunity for lasting change.”