Credit: Jenni Girtman
By Rodney Slater
Former U.S. Secretary of Transportation, board member of The John and Lillian Miles Lewis Foundation and senior partner at law firm Squire Patton Boggs
To live a life of purpose, joy, and consequence — this is the challenge of the ages. John Robert Lewis is the perfect exemplar.
He was an inspiration for this writer in my teen years and the coming of age during Jim Crow in the Arkansas Delta. I had read and heard about his participation in the Freedom Rides, the March on Washington, and the “Bloody Sunday” march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge, all before his 26th birthday. And I knew that he bore physical scars from some of those efforts.
Years later, when I had my first up-close and personal interaction with Mr. Lewis, as the Arkansas representative to the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. National Holiday Commission, I was struck first and foremost by his grace, humility and his unyielding resolve to make America a more perfect union. And years later, as U. S. Secretary of Transportation, I was privileged to join Congressman Lewis during a commemorative walk across the Pettus Bridge.
Today, I am proud to join all Americans in celebrating the unveiling of the U.S. Postal Service commemorative stamp in honor of a true American hero.
The John Lewis postage stamp is a testament to a life of service to our country and the ideals of freedom and justice that are enshrined in our Constitution. It symbolizes our unity in celebrating the courageous efforts of Congressman Lewis and so many others who devoted their lives in the righteous fight for equal rights and democracy in America and around the world.
John Lewis was the ultimate patriot. He believed in an American future that was better than its past. And, throughout his life, he understood that every American, young and old, had a role to play in our long march to freedom.
He especially believed in this new generation of freedom fighters. He was confident that he was passing the baton to a generation that has all it needs to continue the work he and so many others started. He once said, “What I try to tell young people is that if you come together with a mission, and it’s grounded with love and a sense of community, you can make the impossible possible.”
As a nation, if we care for the Beloved Community, we must move our feet, our hands, our hearts, our resources to build and not tear down, to reconcile and not to divide, to love and not to hate.