Getting In Good Trouble with Congressman John Lewis
Pictured: Past BIG National President Honorable Gerald Reed, Congressman Lewis, Past BIG Region XI Council President Larry Phillips, and journalist and anchor Maureen Bunyan.
You must have a great deal of courage when standing up for justice, especially when it means jeopardizing a stable government job and even your mental health.
Since our formation in 1975, Blacks in Government (BIG) has faced "good trouble" because of champions of federal employees like Congressman John Lewis. Like the Congressman, BIG has always been on the side of right. BIG championed diversity, equity, and inclusion long before those terms were in vogue, and identified the shortcomings of our agencies long before they became the best (or worst) places to work in government, but we know we stand on the shoulders of giants who came before us. BIG is honored to recognize Congressman John Lewis today as its champion for federal workers, a man described as "one of the most courageous persons the Civil Rights Movement ever produced."
Congressman Lewis is best remembered for images of him in his trench coat and backpack being beaten by state troopers as he led the first march from Selma to Montgomery across Selma's Edmund Pettus Bridge. In the course of a life dedicated to advocacy, however, that was just one instance, albeit a very significant one. Congressman Lewis has always stood up for the little man or the underdog, which at times has included government employees, whether he was chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) or an organizer of the 1963 March on Washington.
In his support of federal workers, however, Congressman Lewis was just as unwavering as he was for civil rights throughout his life. Known as the "conscience of Congress," he supported federal workers through threats of government shutdowns, freezes on cost-of-living adjustments, and concerns about the lack of diversity in the government. We recognized Congressman Lewis 21 years ago with an award for his commitment and honor him today as a champion for the federal workforce for all those reasons and more. By standing on the side of right and trying to help our agencies be the model employers they say they want to be, we are emboldened to get in good trouble because of Congressman Lewis.
The column from BIG is part of the FEDforum, an initiative to unite voices across the federal community. The FEDforum is a space for federal employee groups to share their organizations’ initiatives and activities with the FEDmanager audience.
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