Was proud that Congress did this to honor Emmitt Till and Mamie Till-Mobley, graduate of Argo High School (Summit IL). A brief story: chicago.suntimes.com/2022/12/21/235…
1/ In March 2020, I had the honor of travelling to Selma AL to walk across the Edmund Pettus Bridge with John Lewis. John would die just a few months later and we had a huge group of civil rights icons who came to honor him "one more time".
2/ At breakfast one morning with Charles Neblett (an amazing man, and one of the "Freedom Singers") I asked him what gave Rosa Parks, MLK and people like John the courage to stand up and lead when so others were killed for doing the same. storytellingcenter.net/tellers/charle…
3/ Charles said that in his experience, once you have a movement you need leaders, "but movements always come first". And that it was Emmett Till who started the movement that made leadership necessary.
4/ That's stuck with me. As a guy who got elected in 2018 in no small part thanks to the movement created by the Women's March, the March for Science, the March for our Lives. Movements that ultimately created leaders... but movements that came first.
5/ We can never know what the thing will be that will trigger a movement. And too often, movements are created by tragedy. Parkland Shootings, George Floyd, the 2016 election, Emmett Till. We would never root for those things, but can admire the movements they inspired.
6/ But - per Neblett - the Civil Rights era owes a debt not only to Emmett Till, but to Mamie Till for creating the catalyst that turned that tragedy into something peaceful, beautiful and - in the best sense of the word - progressive.
7/ I'm proud to say that the new #IL06 will include Argo High School, and look forward to seeing the unveiling of the memorial they are putting up in Mamie Till's honor in a few months. cbsnews.com/chicago/news/a…
8/ Until then, let's all show some gratitude to those who made our nation's great movements possible. The leaders of those movements told the stories, drove them forward and in some cases gave their lives doing so. But don't forget those who made that leadership necessary. /fin
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