You should watch the excellent John Lewis documentary, ‘Good Trouble’

Georgia Congessman John Lewis died on Friday at the age of 80. You should take some time to learn about his life and work in the Dawn Porter-directed documentary, John Lewis: Good Trouble.

The Civil Rights icon leaves behind the legacy of a fighter for peace who spent the bulk of his time on Earth working to ensure equal treatment for people of color in the United States. He was the last living member of the “Big Six” group of Civil Rights activists who helped organize and spoke at the 1963 March on Washington.

Martin Luther King, Jr. was also a member of that group, and the March on Washington is where he delivered his famous “I Have a Dream” speech. Lewis shared the stage that day, and was even asked by his peers to tone his own remarks down.

That fight never left him. Lewis himself acknowledged as much in Dec. 2019 when he shared the news that he’d been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. 

“I have been in some kind of fight – for freedom, equality, basic human rights – for nearly my entire life. I have never faced a fight quite like the one I have now,” Lewis said in a statement released at the time. “I have decided to do what I know to do and do what I have always done: I am going to fight it and keep fighting for the Beloved Community. We still have many bridges to cross.”

Porter’s documentary presents a picture of the man who found his voice during a politically and socially turbulent period in U.S. history. He was inspired as a young activist after hearing King, Jr. speak in the 1950s, and the movie charts his path through that time to the March on Washington and the political battles that would follow.

Good Trouble also lives on as a worthy standard-bearer of Lewis’s legacy as a defender of equal rights. It looks at his storied life and career in the context of our current moment, with a particular focus on the 2018 midterm election. Lewis worked as both an activist and a politician to protect the voting rights of Black Americans, and the documentary preaches that message in a way that the departed Congressman no longer can.

The documentary’s title, it should be noted, comes straight from Lewis. 

“Do not get lost in a sea of despair,” he wrote in June 2018, months ahead of the midterm election. “Be hopeful, be optimistic. Our struggle is not the struggle of a day, a week, a month, or a year, it is the struggle of a lifetime. Never, ever be afraid to make some noise and get in good trouble, necessary trouble.”

You can stream Good Trouble as a rental right now through a number of content providers, including Amazon and YouTube.