“Good Trouble” Lives on in Goshen
A crowd showed up on Thursday with assorted signs.
By Mary Makofske
Around 200 people gathered on Main Street in Goshen on July 17 to celebrate the legacy of civil rights leader and congressman John Lewis and protest the attacks on rights by the Trump administration. Participants carried signs, chanted, and beat drums from 4-5:30 despite the heat.
The event was jointly sponsored by Grassroots Action OC, Hands Off! Hudson Valley (Monroe), and the newly organized Indivisible Goshen, NY.
Immigrant rights were also the focus of the July 17 demonstration, and $359 in donations was collected for WAFO (Warwick Area Farmworkers Organization), which provides individual and family support services for the migrant farm worker population of Southern Orange County New York.
John Lewis was born to sharecroppers in Alabama and rose to be a signifcant presence in the civil rights movement, participating in lunch counter demonstations, the Freedom Rides, the March on Washington, and the Selma to Montgomery marches, where he was brutally beaten on "Bloody Sunday." He served as representative to Georgia’s 5th Congressional District from 1986 until his death. Lewis died five years ago on July 17, and he left us with the admonition to “make good trouble, necessary trouble” with the goal of defending civil and voting rights in this nation.
Weekly Saturday protests are scheduled for:
Warwick, Main Street in front of Lewis Park, 10-11 a.m.
Goshen, Main Street in front of the Government Center, 12-1 p.m.
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