Two Lions Are Gone

John Lewis, a leader of the civil rights movement and one of the survivors of the 1965 Selma-Montgomery March, where the cops, on horseback, charged peaceful marchers and beat them with truncheons. He later served in Congress for 34 years until his death yesterday.

Reverend C.T. Vivian, who, during a push to register voters, was punched in the face by notoriously racist Sheriff Clark, while cameras were rolling, also died Friday. He was 95.

These were men who risked their lives pushing for freedom in a nation that holds up freedom to be a core value, but denied it to people for centuries because of the color of their skin, their ethnicity and their gender. It was not an abstract risk. Blacks who sought to vote and to better their economic standing were routinely beaten, exiled and often murdered. Where Blacks did gain economic power, they were burned out at massacred by white mobs with the tacit if not overt approval of local and state government.

People like Rep. Lewis and Rev. Vivian were far, far braver than most people ever have to be. They could have gone along to get along, but they stood up.

Most of us were not and are not fit to shine their boots.

And that most assuredly include the current resident of 1600 Penna Ave. and everyone who works for him.