Posthumous letter to congressman Lewis

Congressman Lewis, my only memory of you were: you standing on a float and me on the sidewalk in Decatur, Georgia. You waved as politicians often do from afar...

Personally, I never know you. That fact saddened me, even more so when I heard of your passing last week.

Congressman, you left behind a world a tiny bit different from the days of Jim Crow. You marched, and were beaten with billy-clubs, your feet swept from under you by the force of water sprayed from fire trucks. These were men that you funded and who swore to protect you. You were bitten by dogs and put in jail. You simply wiped the gushing blood from your face and marched again another day... You chanted "we are not afraid..." Fear ? fear is the enemy...you said.

Congressman, you never raised a feather neither in anger nor in anguish against any of your countrymen, that fact to me is admirable. The tyranny of that era is etched in our memories for ever when we revisit these clips, and years later we felt the pain you endured for humanity's freedom.

Congressman, it must have been hard for you to watch the tapes of your marches, arrests and the acts of aggression done to your person?

Congressman Lewis, you did nothing to repel the violence done unto you. Why ? You practiced non-violence and love in situations where anyone would react violently. Even your aggressors were beginning to think less of you for not taking the bait. In the final analysis, you and your cause were right.

Congressman, you were spat on while cameras were rolling. Your only reaction was to tell the offender that you forgive and love him.

Unfortunately, congressman Lewis, this new generation no longer believes in the non-violence movement. That's where we are today. People are fed up!

They don't understand the non-violence movement. Non-violence is not being taught in our universities or any centers of higher learning, and passed on to generations, whereas Alexis de Tocqueville, and Kafka is being taught right from under our noses so people could learn in school how to think less of black people...

Congressman Lewis, young Americans today believe in the contrary as means to resolve conflicts, and that fact saddens me. It saddens me because we're still discussing ways to defeat hatred with love while you are gone...

It's my turn to say good-bye, rest in power and well-done, Congressman Lewis!

Violence had no power over you!

Veritas

Weiner Marthone est l'auteur de Dictateurs du Tiers Monde.
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