REMEMBERING JOHN LEWIS

Running For Office “Good Trouble”: Inspired by The Life & Legacy of John Lewis

On July 17th, we will celebrate the life and legacy of Representative John Lewis, I am reminded that he often talked about getting into “good trouble.” Mr. Lewis served as a United States Congressmen from Georgia. His life’s story has inspired many.  Representative Lewis passed away in 2020, and I encourage everyone to view his many talks on YouTube to hear in his own words what inspired him to get into “good trouble, necessary trouble.”

Mr. Lewis often talked about the consequences of standing up for what is right. He describes in chilling detail about being beaten and jailed and friends being murdered as he and others worked for a more just world in the 1950s and 1960s.  For many he is most
known for the 1965 civil rights

march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama.  

The event was a non-violent protest with hundreds of young men and women joined together to protest the state laws that kept Black Americans from voting. While the protestors were non-violent, they were met with violent attacks and arrests. As we remember John Lewis, it seems like good trouble is needed now more than ever in Indiana, and in the United States.

The ideals promoted by John Lewis are why I am running to be your next State Representative as my commitment to get into “good trouble.” He was a true servant leader. His life and legacy inspire me to act upon my democratic ideals of community, freedom and fairness.

 I am not as brave as Mr. Lewis and at the same time, I must act. For me, my bravery was to become the Democratic candidate for the Indiana State House of Representatives District 28, in what has been for a long time a one political party state.

My bravery was to talk about my democratic ideals with my family, friends, and neighbors.  My bravery was to imagine a better Indiana.

Career politicians who simply expect re-election have taken us all for granted for too long. We need to bring a more balanced approach back to state government.

 A balanced government of politicians with different viewpoints will produce the best solutions to our toughest problems.

 We need to enable citizens to directly lead initiatives to change our constitution. We need to have policies and laws that most of us want and eliminate the ones that do not reflect the interests of we the people.  We need to stop and remove laws and policies that invade our personal lives maliciously.

We need to close the gap between what most citizens want versus the few who use state government to control and harm the rest of us.

As your next Representative, I look forward to working across the aisle with Republicans and Independents who want the government to work for the people and get our rights back.

As citizens, we need to reward getting work done through collaboration and not extremist politicians who have single causes that are out of step with the rest of us.

We need to stop laws and policies that treat us with contempt and suspicion. We need to get the government out of our doctors’ offices and out of our school and college classrooms. We need the government to support and uplift all of us.