vox--2020-07-18--Many schools aren’t reopening in the fall. Now what?

The shift to remote learning this spring in response to the coronavirus pandemic was a disaster for many students and families — so much so that in recent weeks , many public health experts have called for schools to reopen if possible .
It ’ s increasingly clear , however , that in many communities , it isn ’ t possible — at least not yet .
As cases of Covid-19 continue to skyrocket around the country , school districts from Los Angeles to Nashville to Houston have announced that they will begin the fall term in an online-only format @ @ @ @ @ @ @ many parents , students , and educators is this : What now ?
How will schools handle the learning losses and inequities that emerged with remote education in the spring , and how will parents cope with even more months of trying to work or find jobs while children are at home ?
Experts , from classroom teachers to epidemiologists , have begun offering solutions to these problems .
They range from incremental ( but still important ) fixes , such as making sure teaching assistants have laptops so they can support special @ @ @ @ @ @ @ changes , like a nationwide corps of child care providers or a universal basic income so more parents could care for their kids at home .
And in addition to strategies for coping with a mostly online fall , public health experts have advice for getting the country back to a point where in-person learning will be possible again .
But most of these solutions will require buy-in from policymakers at the local , state , and federal level .
And while some officials are beginning to offer families help — New York @ @ @ @ @ @ @ example , announced on Thursday that the city will provide child care for 100,000 children when school begins in a partially online form in the fall — many school districts are racing to figure out the best ways to teach kids .
The Trump administration , meanwhile , continues to offer little leadership when it comes to suppressing the virus and helping schools open safely — instead , the president has threatened schools that fail to reopen with funding cuts , even as Covid surges in many states .
And in states like @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for a return to in-person school without putting policies in place to reduce transmission of the virus .
Getting kids back in school “ takes resources and planning , and it also takes having informed conversations between school districts and teachers and members of the public , ” Jennifer Nuzzo , an epidemiologist at Johns Hopkins who has written about the issue of school closures , told Vox .
But “ this whole issue has become so unfortunately politicized that I feel that it ’ s hindering these conversations.
” With schools around @ @ @ @ @ @ @ parents were suddenly faced with the challenge of caring for their kids all day and supervising their online learning while also trying to do their jobs .
Those with the ability to work from home , especially in two-parent households , have sometimes been able to cobble together schedules that allow them to care for kids while working — often putting in hours of work late at night or early in the morning .
But parents who work outside the home have been left with few options , especially if they ’ re @ @ @ @ @ @ @ with many schools remote-only in the fall , or operating on a hybrid model in which kids will still be home multiple days per week , there ’ s little relief in sight .
In response to this problem , many have proposed creative child care solutions .
For example , Elena Tuerk , a child psychologist at the University of Virginia , has proposed a corps of child care providers , potentially paid for by states or the federal government , that could supervise children when their parents are at work .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ the existing AmeriCorps program , and families could apply based on their work schedules and financial needs and be matched with trained caregivers in their communities , Tuerk told Vox .
Ideally , those caregivers “ would see this as an opportunity to serve , which it really is , ” she said .
However , any such program would require significant coordination and a huge staff , since there are about 48 million children under 12 in the United States .
And so far , there has been little interest at the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ broad-based solution .
Others have noted that existing child care services could be expanded in the absence of in-person school .
Even as schools closed , many daycare centers remained open to take care of the children of essential workers , said Nuzzo .
And in the fall , school districts could offer “ the equivalent of daycare for older kids , ” in which children who aren ’ t physically in school are instead supervised in small , consistent groups , perhaps modeled on summer camps and aftercare programs .
Such an @ @ @ @ @ @ @ would be safer than a school with potentially hundreds of students going in and out , Nuzzo said .
Keeping numbers low “ reduces the probability that an infection will be introduced , ” she explained , and , “ if an infection is introduced , it just limits the number of people who get it.
” And caring for children together in small groups would provide at least some of the socialization that kids missed out on this spring when schools were closed .
At least one city , New York , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
On Thursday , Mayor de Blasio announced the city would expand its sponsored child care programs to care for some children in the fall , when students will only attend school physically one to three days a week .
However , the program will only serve a fraction of the city ’ s 1.1 million students , according to Politico , and it ’ s not clear how families will be selected or how much care will cost .
Meanwhile , some families around the country are making plans on their own @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the fall .
“ I have a lot of friends who have talked about signing their kids up in the public school but as remote learners and forming their own sort of cohorts , ” where parents trade off supervising kids , Sarah Mulhern Gross , a high school English teacher in New Jersey , told Vox earlier this month .
That way , “ There ’ s an adult there to help , but it ’ s not all on one person ’ s shoulders , plus it ’ s socialization for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ other trusted families nearby with whom to share child care in this way — or a work schedule that permits it .
And in much of the country , there continues to be few options for parents who need to work while their kids are out of school .
“ I think we ’ re sort of taking for granted that parents are going to make do the way they might have in the spring , ” Tuerk told Vox earlier this month .
“ But the amount of disruption that is causing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and in particular to women ’ s work lives , is not okay long term.
” While child care programs would allow parents to get back to work , other solutions would help them take time away from work to care for their kids .
One possibility , for some , is paid leave .
Under the Families First Coronavirus Response Act , parents are already entitled to up to 12 weeks of leave at partial pay if a child ’ s school or daycare center is closed due to the virus .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ in recent legislation , many employers , including those with over 500 employees , are exempt from the requirement , Pronita Gupta , director of the job quality program at the Center for Law and Social Policy ( CLASP ) , told Vox earlier this month .
And employees have to negotiate leave with their employers , which could make it difficult for them to get the time they ’ re entitled to , especially if hybrid schooling in the fall necessitates a complex child care schedule .
The paid-leave requirement expires on @ @ @ @ @ @ @ be extended as well as expanded to cover workers not currently included , Gupta said .
Meanwhile , others have proposed broader-based solutions to help parents care for kids during the pandemic .
“ Anyone who doesn ’ t have an essential job needs to be given basic income to be able to stay at home with their child , ” Jillian Johnson , the mayor pro tempore of Durham , North Carolina , told Vox .
She recently proposed a slate of reforms to help Americans deal with school closures , one @ @ @ @ @ @ @ which she recommends not just for parents but for anyone in nonessential jobs .
“ There are tons of people who are out working in retail shops and all of these places that we don ’ t need to be open right now , that are not critical to anyone ’ s survival , ” Johnson said .
“ Those places should be shut down , and the workers should be paid to stay home.
” Any universal basic income would require federal action , unlikely under the current administration .
But the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ years , with the presidential candidacy of Andrew Yang and pilot programs planned in a variety of cities .
And while a lot of conversation right now is focused on how to get parents , and all Americans , back to their jobs , the pandemic is a time to rethink work itself , Johnson said .
“ A lot of work is not essential , ” she told Vox .
“ This is a moment for us to think about what ’ s really important in terms of what work needs to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a society in this time.
” Invest in technology and close the digital divide One of the biggest problems with remote learning has been inequality of access .
About 17 percent of students nationwide lack a computer at home , according to a 2019 analysis by the Associated Press .
Eighteen percent lack broadband internet access .
Low-income families and families of color are especially likely to be without these resources , according to the AP .
Some school districts tried to help by sending iPads or other devices to families , but @ @ @ @ @ @ @ problem .
For example , families with multiple kids didn ’ t always get a device for each child , Ronald Richter , CEO of the New York-based child welfare agency JCCA , told Vox .
And kids without internet access at home sometimes ended up working on iPhones , which weren ’ t ideal for many types of classwork .
To remedy the problem , officials need to ensure that every child has access to a computer they can use to learn online , Johnson said .
Some districts are already at @ @ @ @ @ @ @ planning to purchase 20,000 Chromebooks to distribute to students who don ’ t have them .
Meanwhile , “ In order to do video calls and watch the kind of video content that we know kids are going to need to access , you ’ ve got to have fast internet , ” Johnson said .
To provide this , she advocates for making broadband a public utility , subsidized at the state or federal level and available at affordable rates to all Americans .
Lawmakers in California and elsewhere have proposed legislation @ @ @ @ @ @ @ laws in many states actively block efforts to provide public internet access .
“ For some reason , we ’ ve decided internet should be a private utility , even though it ’ s something that everyone needs , even before Covid , ” Johnson said .
And it ’ s not just about students .
The Houston Federation of Teachers is pushing to make sure that all teaching assistants , in addition to teachers , are provided with laptops and internet so they can assist students with online learning , Zeph Capo @ @ @ @ @ @ @ told Vox .
Fully equipping TAs for online learning would be especially helpful for special needs students , who haven ’ t always gotten the support they need during the pandemic .
“ If our teachers ’ assistants actually had the equipment they needed , ” Capo said , “ they could be supplementing what our teachers are doing by providing the one-on-one support , even if it ’ s social and emotional support , to those students , ” as well as “ helping provide a second set of eyes and ears @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Lack of access to technology is likely one reason students around the country saw significant learning losses in the fall , with Black and Latinx students as well as students in low-income neighborhoods disproportionately affected .
But beyond the digital divide , educators and others are also looking to improve kids ’ experience with online school to help them learn better .
“ We spent most of the spring focused on learning the platforms and how to upload our lessons and get the basic fundamentals to work , ” Capo said .
“ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ time actually focusing on the adjustments or changes to pedagogical practices to facilitate better virtual learning.
” Now , union members are “ shifting rather intently to being better online teachers , ” with the union offering a webinar devoted to the pedagogy of virtual learning .
Experts around the country are beginning to offer tips for more successful online teaching during the pandemic , from being flexible around deadlines and assignments to rethinking the ways educators measure student progress .
Meanwhile , districts may need to reexamine their curricula as well .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ much better and more flexible for online learning , ” Joshua Sharfstein , a pediatrician and a professor at the Bloomberg School of Public Health at Johns Hopkins , told Vox .
In a recent paper , he and Christopher Morphew , dean of the Johns Hopkins School of Education , especially recommend curricula that incorporate both in-person and remote strategies , since students may have to switch between the two at various points this year .
And improving online school isn ’ t just about academics .
Especially for kids with existing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ it hard to ensure that their mental health needs are being met , Richter said .
And the pandemic has been an enormous source of anxiety and grief for children , many of whom have seen loved ones or community members become very ill or die from Covid .
To help kids mentally and emotionally , JCCA offers remote and in-person services for Medicaid-eligible families in New York that “ are meant to address traumatic experiences that kids and families have , ” before those experiences cause lasting mental-health problems .
Schools should @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , and nurses to help students deal with the stress of the pandemic , Sharfstein and Morphew write .
“ It ’ s a really challenging time to be a kid , ” Johnson said .
“ I would never devalue the role of academics , but what I think is even more critical is making sure that our kids feel supported , are taken care of , that their social and mental and emotional health needs are being met.
” In recent weeks , many epidemiologists have argued that the biggest thing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ open schools safely is to reduce community transmission of the coronavirus .
“ Everybody ’ s been asking the question , ‘ How do we open up schools safely ?
’ ” Ashish Jha , the faculty director of the Harvard Global Health Institute , told Vox ’ s German Lopez .
“ My argument ’ s been : Live in a community that doesn ’ t have a big disease outbreak .
That ’ s how you open up schools safely.
” In order to keep the disease under control so schools @ @ @ @ @ @ @ closing down other indoor venues like bars , restaurants , and gyms that seem to be contributing to a lot of spread .
“ Reopening businesses that pose a major risk of community spread should be a lower priority than reopening schools , for which continued closure carries far greater harm , ” Nuzzo and Sharfstein wrote in a July 1 op-ed in the New York Times .
Unfortunately , coronavirus cases have skyrocketed in many areas even in the few weeks since then — and in many places , even shutting down @ @ @ @ @ @ @ make schools safe by the beginning of the fall .
But officials could still make decisions now that could allow kids to come back at some point in the future , if not right away , experts say .
In Maryland , for example , where case numbers have begun to rise but are not yet at the high levels seen in other states , “ I think if we made it a priority it would be possible to bring our case numbers down further and have safety protocols in place in the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ form of in-person instruction , ” Nuzzo said .
It will also take action from political leaders , some of whom have actively opposed strategies to mitigate the pandemic .
Georgia Gov .
Brian Kemp , for example , has pushed for in-person school in the fall — saying in a news conference Friday that “ I am a believer that kids need to be in the classroom.
” And yet just the day before , he sued the city of Atlanta to prevent it from enforcing a requirement that residents wear masks @ @ @ @ @ @ @ reduce viral spread and thus get children back into the classroom faster .
When it comes to making schools safe to reopen again , “ Ultimately , it ’ s going to come down to what governors of states choose to do , ” Helen Jenkins , an epidemiologist at Boston University who has been vocal about schools , told Vox .
And some fear that a lack of leadership at the federal level could hinder any local response .
While state and local officials have called for additional funding to help them @ @ @ @ @ @ @ offered no solutions and has instead threatened to cut funding to schools that don ’ t reopen — even in the face of rising case numbers .
“ I can imagine a scenario where schools would be able to reopen safely , ” Johnson said , “ but it ’ s not one where Trump is president.
” Every day at Vox , we aim to answer your most important questions and provide you , and our audience around the world , with information that has the power to save lives .
Our @ @ @ @ @ @ @ it is in this moment : to empower you through understanding .
Vox ’ s work is reaching more people than ever , but our distinctive brand of explanatory journalism takes resources — particularly during a pandemic and an economic downturn .
Your financial contribution will not constitute a donation , but it will enable our staff to continue to offer free articles , videos , and podcasts at the quality and volume that this moment requires .
Please consider making a contribution to Vox today .

The shift to remote learning this spring in response to the coronavirus pandemic was a disaster for many students and families — so much so that in recent weeks, many public health experts have called for schools to reopen if possible.
It’s increasingly clear, however, that in many communities, it isn’t possible — at least not yet. As cases of Covid-19 continue to skyrocket around the country, school districts from Los Angeles to Nashville to Houston have announced that they will begin the fall term in an online-only format.
The question on the minds of many parents, students, and educators is this: What now? How will schools handle the learning losses and inequities that emerged with remote education in the spring, and how will parents cope with even more months of trying to work or find jobs while children are at home?
Experts, from classroom teachers to epidemiologists, have begun offering solutions to these problems. They range from incremental (but still important) fixes, such as making sure teaching assistants have laptops so they can support special education students virtually, to more sweeping changes, like a nationwide corps of child care providers or a universal basic income so more parents could care for their kids at home. And in addition to strategies for coping with a mostly online fall, public health experts have advice for getting the country back to a point where in-person learning will be possible again.
But most of these solutions will require buy-in from policymakers at the local, state, and federal level. And while some officials are beginning to offer families help — New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, for example, announced on Thursday that the city will provide child care for 100,000 children when school begins in a partially online form in the fall — many school districts are racing to figure out the best ways to teach kids.
The Trump administration, meanwhile, continues to offer little leadership when it comes to suppressing the virus and helping schools open safely — instead, the president has threatened schools that fail to reopen with funding cuts, even as Covid surges in many states. And in states like Georgia and Iowa, governors have pushed for a return to in-person school without putting policies in place to reduce transmission of the virus.
Getting kids back in school “takes resources and planning, and it also takes having informed conversations between school districts and teachers and members of the public,” Jennifer Nuzzo, an epidemiologist at Johns Hopkins who has written about the issue of school closures, told Vox. But “this whole issue has become so unfortunately politicized that I feel that it’s hindering these conversations.”
Expand child care options for parents
With schools around the country closed this spring, many parents were suddenly faced with the challenge of caring for their kids all day and supervising their online learning while also trying to do their jobs.
Those with the ability to work from home, especially in two-parent households, have sometimes been able to cobble together schedules that allow them to care for kids while working — often putting in hours of work late at night or early in the morning. But parents who work outside the home have been left with few options, especially if they’re raising kids on their own. And with many schools remote-only in the fall, or operating on a hybrid model in which kids will still be home multiple days per week, there’s little relief in sight.
In response to this problem, many have proposed creative child care solutions. For example, Elena Tuerk, a child psychologist at the University of Virginia, has proposed a corps of child care providers, potentially paid for by states or the federal government, that could supervise children when their parents are at work.
Such an effort could be administered through the existing AmeriCorps program, and families could apply based on their work schedules and financial needs and be matched with trained caregivers in their communities, Tuerk told Vox. Ideally, those caregivers “would see this as an opportunity to serve, which it really is,” she said.
However, any such program would require significant coordination and a huge staff, since there are about 48 million children under 12 in the United States. And so far, there has been little interest at the state or federal level in such a broad-based solution.
Others have noted that existing child care services could be expanded in the absence of in-person school. Even as schools closed, many day care centers remained open to take care of the children of essential workers, said Nuzzo. And in the fall, school districts could offer “the equivalent of daycare for older kids,” in which children who aren’t physically in school are instead supervised in small, consistent groups, perhaps modeled on summer camps and after-school programs.
Such an arrangement, while not without risk, would be safer than a school with potentially hundreds of students going in and out, Nuzzo said. Keeping numbers low “reduces the probability that an infection will be introduced,” she explained, and, “if an infection is introduced, it just limits the number of people who get it.” And caring for children together in small groups would provide at least some of the socialization that kids missed out on this spring when schools were closed.
At least one city, New York, appears to be offering such a program. On Thursday, Mayor de Blasio announced the city would expand its sponsored child care programs to care for some children in the fall, when students will only attend school physically one to three days a week. However, the program will only serve a fraction of the city’s 1.1 million students, according to Politico, and it’s not clear how families will be selected or how much care will cost.
Meanwhile, some families around the country are making plans on their own to take care of kids together in the fall. “I have a lot of friends who have talked about signing their kids up in the public school but as remote learners and forming their own sort of cohorts,” where parents trade off supervising kids, Sarah Mulhern Gross, a high school English teacher in New Jersey, told Vox earlier this month. That way, “There’s an adult there to help, but it’s not all on one person’s shoulders, plus it’s socialization for kids.”
But not every parent has other trusted families nearby with whom to share child care in this way — or a work schedule that permits it. And in much of the country, there continues to be few options for parents who need to work while their kids are out of school. “I think we’re sort of taking for granted that parents are going to make do the way they might have in the spring,” Tuerk told Vox earlier this month. “But the amount of disruption that is causing to people’s work lives, and in particular to women’s work lives, is not okay long term.”
Pay parents to stay home
While child care programs would allow parents to get back to work, other solutions would help them take time away from work to care for their kids. One possibility, for some, is paid leave. Under the Families First Coronavirus Response Act, parents are already entitled to up to 12 weeks of leave at partial pay if a child’s school or day care center is closed due to the virus.
However, as with other paid-leave provisions in recent legislation, many employers, including those with over 500 employees, are exempt from the requirement, Pronita Gupta, director of the job quality program at the Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP), told Vox earlier this month. And employees have to negotiate leave with their employers, which could make it difficult for them to get the time they’re entitled to, especially if hybrid schooling in the fall necessitates a complex child care schedule.
The paid-leave requirement expires on December 31; CLASP argues it should be extended and expanded to cover workers not currently included, Gupta said.
Meanwhile, others have proposed broader-based solutions to help parents care for kids during the pandemic. “Anyone who doesn’t have an essential job needs to be given basic income to be able to stay at home with their child,” Jillian Johnson, the mayor pro tempore of Durham, North Carolina, told Vox. She recently proposed a slate of reforms to help Americans deal with school closures, one of which was universal basic income, which she recommends not just for parents but for anyone in nonessential jobs.
There is no way to safely reopen schools in the Fall. What can we do instead?
✅Pay people to stay home.
✅Subsidize in-home care for essential workers.
✅Give every kid a computer.
✅Make broadband a public utility. — Jillian Johnson (@JillianDURM) July 14, 2020
“There are tons of people who are out working in retail shops and all of these places that we don’t need to be open right now, that are not critical to anyone’s survival,” Johnson said. “Those places should be shut down, and the workers should be paid to stay home.”
Any universal basic income would require federal action, unlikely under the current administration. But the idea has been gaining traction in recent years, with the presidential candidacy of Andrew Yang and pilot programs planned in a variety of cities.
And while a lot of conversation right now is focused on how to get parents, and all Americans, back to their jobs, the pandemic is a time to rethink work itself, Johnson said. “A lot of work is not essential,” she told Vox. “This is a moment for us to think about what’s really important in terms of what work needs to get done to keep us going as a society in this time.”
Invest in technology and close the digital divide
One of the biggest problems with remote learning has been inequality of access. About 17 percent of students nationwide lack a computer at home, according to a 2019 analysis by the Associated Press. Eighteen percent lack broadband internet access. Low-income families and families of color are especially likely to be without these resources, according to the AP.
Some school districts tried to help by sending iPads or other devices to families, but it didn’t fully fix the problem. For example, families with multiple kids didn’t always get a device for each child, Ronald Richter, CEO of the New York-based child welfare agency JCCA, told Vox. And kids without internet access at home sometimes ended up working on iPhones, which weren’t ideal for many types of class work.
Related The shift to online learning could worsen educational inequality
To remedy the problem, officials need to ensure every child has access to a computer they can use to learn online, Johnson said. Some districts are already at work on this, with Durham schools planning to purchase 20,000 Chromebooks to distribute to students who don’t have them.
Meanwhile, “In order to do video calls and watch the kind of video content that we know kids are going to need to access, you’ve got to have fast internet,” Johnson said. To provide this, she advocates for making broadband a public utility, subsidized at the state or federal level and available at affordable rates to all Americans. Lawmakers in California and elsewhere have proposed legislation to promote affordable public broadband, but laws in many states actively block efforts to provide public internet access.
“For some reason, we’ve decided internet should be a private utility, even though it’s something that everyone needs, even before Covid,” Johnson said.
And it’s not just about students. The Houston Federation of Teachers is pushing to make sure that all teaching assistants, in addition to teachers, are provided with laptops and internet so they can assist students with online learning, Zeph Capo, the union’s president, told Vox. Fully equipping TAs for online learning would be especially helpful for special needs students, who haven’t always gotten the support they need during the pandemic.
“If our teachers’ assistants actually had the equipment they needed,” Capo said, “they could be supplementing what our teachers are doing by providing the one-on-one support, even if it’s social and emotional support, to those students,” as well as “helping provide a second set of eyes and ears for the parents during this time.”
Improve the online school experience — beyond academics
Lack of access to technology is likely one reason students around the country saw significant learning losses in the fall, with Black and Latinx students as well as students in low-income neighborhoods disproportionately affected. But beyond the digital divide, educators and others are also looking to improve kids’ experience with online school to help them learn better.
“We spent most of the spring focused on learning the platforms and how to upload our lessons and get the basic fundamentals to work,” Capo said. “We didn’t spend near enough time actually focusing on the adjustments or changes to pedagogical practices to facilitate better virtual learning.” Now, union members are “shifting rather intently to being better online teachers,” with the union offering a webinar devoted to the pedagogy of virtual learning. Experts around the country are beginning to offer tips for more successful online teaching during the pandemic, from being flexible around deadlines and assignments to rethinking the ways educators measure student progress.
Meanwhile, districts may need to reexamine their curricula as well. “There are some curricula that are much better and more flexible for online learning,” Joshua Sharfstein, a pediatrician and a professor at the Bloomberg School of Public Health at Johns Hopkins, told Vox. In a recent paper, he and Christopher Morphew, dean of the Johns Hopkins School of Education, especially recommend curricula that incorporate both in-person and remote strategies, since students may have to switch between the two at various points this year.
And improving online school isn’t just about academics. Especially for kids with existing mental health issues, remote learning makes it hard to ensure that their mental health needs are being met, Richter said. And the pandemic has been an enormous source of anxiety and grief for children, many of whom have seen loved ones or community members become very ill or die from Covid. To help kids mentally and emotionally, JCCA offers remote and in-person services for Medicaid-eligible families in New York that “are meant to address traumatic experiences that kids and families have,” before those experiences cause lasting mental health problems.
Schools should also hire additional counselors, social workers, and nurses to help students deal with the stress of the pandemic, Sharfstein and Morphew write.
“It’s a really challenging time to be a kid,” Johnson said. “I would never devalue the role of academics, but what I think is even more critical is making sure that our kids feel supported, are taken care of, that their social and mental and emotional health needs are being met.”
Close the bars. Reopen the schools.
In recent weeks, many epidemiologists have argued that the biggest thing America needs to do in order to open schools safely is to reduce community transmission of the coronavirus. “Everybody’s been asking the question, ‘How do we open up schools safely?’” Ashish Jha, the faculty director of the Harvard Global Health Institute, told Vox’s German Lopez. “My argument’s been: Live in a community that doesn’t have a big disease outbreak. That’s how you open up schools safely.”
In order to keep the disease under control so schools can open, many have advocated for closing down other indoor venues like bars, restaurants, and gyms that seem to be contributing to a lot of spread. “Reopening businesses that pose a major risk of community spread should be a lower priority than reopening schools, for which continued closure carries far greater harm,” Nuzzo and Sharfstein wrote in a July 1 op-ed in the New York Times.
Unfortunately, coronavirus cases have skyrocketed in many areas even in the few weeks since then — and in many places, even shutting down bars and restaurants now is unlikely to make schools safe by the beginning of the fall. But officials could still make decisions now that could allow kids to come back at some point in the future, if not right away, experts say.
In Maryland, for example, where case numbers have begun to rise but are not yet at the high levels seen in other states, “I think if we made it a priority it would be possible to bring our case numbers down further and have safety protocols in place in the schools to allow kids to have some form of in-person instruction,” Nuzzo said.
It will also take action from political leaders, some of whom have actively opposed strategies to mitigate the pandemic. Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, for example, has pushed for in-person school in the fall — saying in a news conference Friday that “I am a believer that kids need to be in the classroom.” And yet just the day before, he sued the city of Atlanta to prevent it from enforcing a requirement that residents wear masks — a simple precaution experts say could reduce viral spread and thus get children back into the classroom faster.
When it comes to making schools safe to reopen again, “Ultimately, it’s going to come down to what governors of states choose to do,” Helen Jenkins, an epidemiologist at Boston University who has been vocal about schools, told Vox.
And some fear a lack of leadership at the federal level could hinder any local response. While state and local officials have called for additional funding to help them reopen safely, the Trump administration has offered no solutions and has instead threatened to cut funding to schools that don’t reopen — even in the face of rising case numbers.
“I can imagine a scenario where schools would be able to reopen safely,” Johnson said, “but it’s not one where Trump is president.”


vox--2020-07-18--Rep. John Lewis’s voting rights legacy is in danger

Rep. John Lewis , who died Friday at age 80 , spent decades fighting for civil rights .
But he specifically made voting rights a key part of his advocacy — so much so that he risked his life to enfranchise voters time and again , including when he had his skull cracked by law enforcement during a voting rights march from Selma to Montgomery , Alabama .
Other voting rights advocates were beaten that day as well .
Lewis testified about that march — which became known as Bloody Sunday — one week later .
Images of the beatings @ @ @ @ @ @ @ hit on the head by an officer , were seen around the world ; video of it was broadcast on television .
And public pressure created by the brutality led to the federal government enacting the Voting Rights Act , a measure that empowered Black voters , and helped bring Lewis into government .
“ I have said this before , and I will say it again , ” Lewis said in June 2019 , “ The vote is precious .
It is almost sacred .
It is the most powerful non-violent tool @ @ @ @ @ @ @ months after making that statement , Democrats in the House of Representatives passed the Voting Rights Advancement Act , a bill intended restore the vote to Americans — mostly Black , Latinx , and Native Americans — disenfranchised by the US Supreme Court in the 2013 case Shelby County v. Holder , which overturned a key part of the Voting Rights Act Lewis and so many others endured beatings to bring about .
But the legislation has gone nowhere — the Republican controlled Senate has ignored it .
Because of this delay , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , Lewis ’ s work to ensure all Americans are able to vote is in jeopardy .
This feels especially meaningful in an election year in which Americans are faced with a particularly stark choice in presidential candidates — and in which parties will be able to redistrict a given state in an advantageous way if they are in control of that state ’ s government .
In the final years of his life , Lewis saw repeated erosion of voting rights , including in his state of Georgia , and asked his @ @ @ @ @ @ @ some gave a little blood , and others gave their very lives ” for voting rights not be in vain .
However , little has been done — particularly by the Senate — to protect the value of the sacrifices he made for voting rights .
The voting rights problems of the ’ 60s and ’ 70s are the same as today ’ s Much of recent voter disenfranchisement — from voter ID laws to poll taxes — can be traced back to Shelby County v. Holder , as Vox ’ s Ella @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of voter discrimination that the Voting Rights Act covered included some places in the North — like parts of New York — but largely focused on nine states with a history of segregation and racial terror , including : Virginia , Texas , South Carolina , Mississippi , Louisiana , Georgia , and Alabama , Alaska , and Arizona .
In his majority opinion , Chief Justice John Roberts argued the coverage formula was no longer needed because there were lots of lawmakers of color from those states , and because it was @ @ @ @ @ @ @ logical relationship to the present day.
” “ Things have changed in the South , ” Roberts wrote .
“ Our country has changed.
” The argument was a familiar one for Lewis , who said in House testimony — in 1971 — “ We have to look beyond the glowing reports of a new South .
We have to recognize the fallacies of those who would tell us that Federal registrars and observers are no longer needed .
We can not allow ourselves to be duped into believing that , in these @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Voting Rights Act is no longer needed.
” Lewis went on to argue , “ There are fewer violent tactics , but the subtle and more sophisticated forms of intimidation are still being devised and are quite prevalent.
” Those words are sadly just as relevant 50 years later — new forms of intimidation and disenfranchisement sprung up immediately after Shelby County v. Holder .
As P.R .
Lockhart has explained for Vox , lawmakers in Texas immediately rolled out a voter ID law following the 2013 decision , and engaged in redistricting @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Other states formerly governed by the Voting Rights Act made similar changes , with states like Georgia and Virginia also enacting voter ID laws , which some studies have found lead to minorities being excluded from voting .
While a few of those studies are debated , the intent is clear — for instance , in a 2016 lawsuit , a federal court found North Carolina implemented voter ID laws to disenfranchise black voters with “ almost surgical precision.
” Georgia in particular has been criticized in 2018 for purging voters from @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Brian Kemp supervised the removal of 1.5 million voters from the state registry from 2012 to 2016 while serving as secretary of state , according to an analysis by New York University ’ s Brennan Center for Justice .
Ahead of the 2018 gubernatorial election , which Kemp won amid accusations of voter suppression — particularly in majority Black areas of the state — the secretary of state ’ s office removed an additional 500,000 voters .
Purges like these weaken the political power of communities of color , Lockhart noted , in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ polling places , making it harder to vote .
And an analysis by Vice ’ s Rob Arthur and Allison McCann found that polling place closures that followed voter roll purges — throughout the country — disproportionately affected voters of color , particularly Black voters .
In 61 percent of the counties the authors studied , polling place closures forced minority voters to travel further to vote than white voters .
Those voters able to make the trip were often faced with longer lines — and during Georgia ’ s 2018 election , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a number of other measures created to disenfranchise minority voters as well , like drawing congressional districts in ways that carefully ensure voters of color do not make up too large a percentage of the district ’ s residents .
Such redistricting was tacitly approved by the Supreme Court in 2018 , and a more recent ruling allowed Florida to enact a poll tax for the formerly incarcerated , which means approximately 85,000 people will not be able to vote in November ’ s election , unless they pay what are in many @ @ @ @ @ @ @ any of these people decides to vote without paying , they could face prosecution .
An analysis by University of Florida political scientist Daniel Smith found that in many Florida counties , two times as many Black people would be disenfranchised by this rule as white people .
Lewis described similar issues in his 1971 congressional testimony , lamenting that Black voters were turned away from polling places for not having identification to show their age , that some were unable to cast ballots because they arrived at the polls only to find @ @ @ @ @ @ @ they were — and that those who were able to vote had to face “ crowded lines ” meant to “ discourage Black political participation.
” Lewis gave that testimony while serving as the head of of the Voter Education Project , which sought to register Black Southerners to vote .
All the problems he cited remain ahead of November ’ s elections — and with only months to go before voters begin casting ballots , there is little indication lawmakers have any intention of ensuring Black Americans won ’ t remain disenfranchised @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Congress won ’ t act Voting problems remain because Congress has repeatedly failed to act .
Beyond Shelby County v. Holder , voting policy has been shaped in recent years by the courts .
As Lockhart noted , lost protections have been restored by cases like the 2016 North Carolina voter ID lawsuit .
For every voting rights victory won in court , however , there are a number of losses , from a North Dakota voter ID law that discriminated against Native Americans being upheld to voters rights advocates dropping a redistricting @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the long gestating process would stretch past 2021 — when new districts will be drawn .
The onus of creating fair voting laws is on Congress — something Roberts explicitly noted in his Shelby County v. Holder decision , and something Lewis acknowledged as well , arguing in 2019 , “ The way votes were not counted and purged in states like Georgia and Florida and other states changed the outcome of the last election .
That must never happen again in our country .
We will make it illegal.
” But many @ @ @ @ @ @ @ death have blocked making voter suppression illegal .
In Lewis ’ s own state , Gov .
Kemp — who again , has been accused of using his powers as secretary of state to push Black voters off voter rolls and to sway a gubernatorial election in his favor — said he is “ praying ” for the Lewis family and called the lawmaker “ a Civil Rights hero , freedom fighter , devoted public servant , and beloved Georgian.
” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell put out a long statement praising Lewis @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ endured hatred and violence ” to “ bring our nation into greater alignment with its founding principles.
” But that praise , many Democrats noted , came as McConnell has blocked all effort to repair the damage the Supreme Court has done to the Voting Rights Act .
A version of the Voting Rights Advancement Act was included in HR 1 , the first legislation the House of Representatives passed in its current term , and McConnell refused to allow it to come to the Senate floor , calling it “ offensive @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ What is the problem we ’ re trying to solve here People are flooding to the polls.
” Similarly , the majority leader has refused to hear the standalone version .
And he is not alone in his congressional colleagues in lauding Lewis , but participating in the dismantling of his legacy .
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy called Lewis “ a friend ” and a man who “ suffered for this nation , enduring what would have easily broken other men , so that future generations could enjoy the full blessings @ @ @ @ @ @ @ many other House Republicans celebrating Lewis ’ s life — voted against the Voting Rights Advancement Act .
All this has many of Lewis ’ s Democratic allies , like Sen. Kamala Harris and Rep. Ilhan Omar , demanding Republicans honor the late lawmaker by finally passing the Voting Rights Advancement Act .
There is still time in this legislative session for the Senate to take up the bill .
If it fails to do so , lawmakers will have another two years to do so starting next year .
Until Congress passes @ @ @ @ @ @ @ advocating for , voting rights will remain at risk .
Because as Lewis said in 2019 , “ There are forces in this country that want to keep American citizens from having a rightful say in the future of our nation .
”

Rep. John Lewis, who died Friday at age 80, spent decades fighting for civil rights. But he specifically made voting rights a key part of his advocacy — so much so that he risked his life to enfranchise voters time and again, including when he had his skull cracked by law enforcement during a voting rights march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama.
Other voting rights advocates were beaten that day as well. Lewis testified about that march — which became known as Bloody Sunday — one week later. Images of the beatings, including a photograph of Lewis being hit on the head by an officer, were seen around the world; video of it was broadcast on television. And public pressure created by the brutality led to the federal government enacting the Voting Rights Act, a measure that empowered Black voters, and helped bring Lewis into government.
“I have said this before, and I will say it again,” Lewis said in June 2019, “The vote is precious. It is almost sacred. It is the most powerful non-violent tool we have in a democracy.”
Six months after making that statement, Democrats in the House of Representatives passed the Voting Rights Advancement Act, a bill intended to restore the vote to Americans — mostly Black, Latinx, and Native Americans — disenfranchised by the US Supreme Court in the 2013 case Shelby County v. Holder, which overturned a key part of the Voting Rights Act that Lewis and so many others endured beatings to bring about. But the legislation has gone nowhere — the Republican-controlled Senate has ignored it.
Because of this delay, and because of Shelby County v. Holder, Lewis’s work to ensure all Americans are able to vote is in jeopardy. This feels especially meaningful in an election year when Americans are faced with a particularly stark choice in presidential candidates — and in which parties will be able to redistrict a given state in an advantageous way if they are in control of that state’s government.
In the final years of his life, Lewis saw repeated erosion of voting rights, including in his state of Georgia, and asked his fellow lawmakers to ensure the fact “some gave a little blood, and others gave their very lives” for voting rights not be in vain. However, little has been done — particularly by the Senate — to protect the value of the sacrifices he made for voting rights.
The voting rights problems of the ’60s and ’70s are the same as today’s
Much recent voter disenfranchisement — from voter ID laws to poll taxes — can be traced back to Shelby County v. Holder, as Vox’s Ella Nilsen has explained:
The Supreme Court’s 2013 decision in Shelby County v. Holder invalidated a portion of the Voting Rights Act relating to a “coverage formula,” which identified certain towns, counties, or states with a history of voter discrimination. Essentially, if those places wanted to pass new voting laws, they had to undergo extra scrutiny from the federal government — an additional measure to protect voters from discriminatory laws being passed. In its decision, the Supreme Court asked Congress to come up with the standard for a coverage formula, something Congress hasn’t done.
Areas with histories of voter discrimination that the Voting Rights Act covered included some places in the North — like parts of New York — but largely focused on nine states with a history of segregation and racial terror: Virginia, Texas, South Carolina, Mississippi, Louisiana, Georgia, Alabama, Alaska, and Arizona.
In his majority opinion, Chief Justice John Roberts argued the coverage formula was no longer needed because there were lots of lawmakers of color from those states, and because it was “based on 40-year-old facts having no logical relationship to the present day.”
“Things have changed in the South,” Roberts wrote. “Our country has changed.”
The argument was a familiar one for Lewis, who said in House testimony — in 1971 — “We have to look beyond the glowing reports of a new South. We have to recognize the fallacies of those who would tell us that Federal registrars and observers are no longer needed. We cannot allow ourselves to be duped into believing that, in these so-called new and changing times, the Voting Rights Act is no longer needed.”
Lewis went on to argue, “There are fewer violent tactics, but the subtle and more sophisticated forms of intimidation are still being devised and are quite prevalent.”
Those words are sadly just as relevant 50 years later — new forms of intimidation and disenfranchisement sprung up immediately after Shelby County v. Holder.
As P.R. Lockhart has explained for Vox, lawmakers in Texas immediately rolled out a voter ID law following the 2013 decision, and engaged in redistricting that diluted the power of minority voters. Other states formerly governed by the Voting Rights Act made similar changes, with states like Georgia and Virginia also enacting voter ID laws, which some studies have found lead to minorities being excluded from voting.
While a few of those studies are debated, the intent is clear — for instance, in a 2016 lawsuit, a federal court found North Carolina implemented voter ID laws to disenfranchise black voters with “almost surgical precision.”
Georgia in particular has been criticized for purging voters from voter rolls in recent years. Current Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp supervised the removal of 1.5 million voters from the state registry from 2012 to 2016 while serving as secretary of state, according to an analysis by New York University’s Brennan Center for Justice. Ahead of the 2018 gubernatorial election, which Kemp won amid accusations of voter suppression — particularly in majority-Black areas of the state — the secretary of state’s office removed an additional 500,000 voters.
Purges like these weaken the political power of communities of color, Lockhart noted, in part because they lead to the closure of polling places, making it harder to vote. And an analysis by Vice’s Rob Arthur and Allison McCann found polling place closures that followed voter roll purges — throughout the country — disproportionately affected voters of color, particularly Black voters. In 61 percent of the counties the authors studied, polling place closures forced minority voters to travel farther to vote than white voters.
Those voters able to make the trip were often faced with longer lines — and during Georgia’s 2018 election, broken machines.
There have been a number of other measures created to disenfranchise minority voters as well, like drawing congressional districts in ways that carefully ensure voters of color do not make up too large a percentage of the district’s residents. Such redistricting was tacitly approved by the Supreme Court in 2018, and a more recent ruling allowed Florida to enact a poll tax for the formerly incarcerated, which means approximately 85,000 people will not be able to vote in November’s election, unless they pay what are in many cases unspecified fines. And, if any of these people decide to vote without paying, they could face prosecution. An analysis by University of Florida political scientist Daniel Smith found that in many Florida counties, twice as many Black people would be disenfranchised by this rule as white people.
Lewis described similar issues in his 1971 congressional testimony, lamenting that Black voters were turned away from polling places for not having identification to show their age, that some were unable to cast ballots because they arrived at the polls only to find they were not registered as they thought they were — and that those who were able to vote had to face “crowded lines” meant to “discourage Black political participation.”
Lewis gave that testimony while serving as the head of the Voter Education Project, which sought to register Black Southerners to vote. All the problems he cited remain ahead of November’s elections — and with only months to go before voters begin casting ballots, there is little indication lawmakers have any intention of ensuring Black Americans won’t remain disenfranchised.
The problems are the same because Congress won’t act
Voting problems remain because Congress has repeatedly failed to act. Beyond Shelby County v. Holder, voting policy has been shaped in recent years by the courts. As Lockhart noted, lost protections have been restored by cases like the 2016 North Carolina voter ID lawsuit.
For every voting rights victory won in court, however, there are a number of losses, from a North Dakota voter ID law that discriminated against Native Americans being upheld to voters rights advocates dropping a redistricting lawsuit in Georgia after it became clear the long gestating process would stretch past 2021 — when new districts will be drawn.
The onus of creating fair voting laws is on Congress — something Roberts explicitly noted in his Shelby County v. Holder decision, and something Lewis acknowledged as well, arguing in 2019, “The way votes were not counted and purged in states like Georgia and Florida and other states changed the outcome of the last election. That must never happen again in our country. We will make it illegal.”
But many of those who praised Lewis following his death have blocked making voter suppression illegal.
In Lewis’s own state, Gov. Kemp — who, again, has been accused of using his powers as secretary of state to push Black voters off voter rolls and to sway a gubernatorial election in his favor — said he is “praying” for the Lewis family and called the lawmaker “a Civil Rights hero, freedom fighter, devoted public servant, and beloved Georgian.”
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell put out a long statement praising Lewis as an “American hero” who “endured hatred and violence” to “bring our nation into greater alignment with its founding principles.”
But that praise, many Democrats noted, came as McConnell has blocked all effort to repair the damage the Supreme Court has done to the Voting Rights Act. A version of the Voting Rights Advancement Act was included in HR 1, the first legislation the House of Representatives passed in its current term, and McConnell refused to allow it onto the Senate floor, calling it “offensive to average voters” and saying, “What is the problem we’re trying to solve here? People are flooding to the polls.”
Similarly, the majority leader has refused to hear a standalone version. And he is not alone among his congressional colleagues in lauding Lewis, but participating in the dismantling of his legacy.
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy called Lewis “a friend” and a man who “suffered for this nation, enduring what would have easily broken other men, so that future generations could enjoy the full blessings of freedom.”
But McCarthy — like many other House Republicans celebrating Lewis’s life — voted against the Voting Rights Advancement Act.
All this has many of Lewis’s Democratic allies, like Sen. Kamala Harris and Rep. Ilhan Omar, demanding Republicans honor the late lawmaker by finally passing the Voting Rights Advancement Act.
There is still time in this legislative session for the Senate to take up the bill. If it fails to do so, lawmakers will have another two years to do so, starting next year. Until Congress passes the legislation Lewis spent his final year advocating for, voting rights will remain at risk.
Because as Lewis said in 2019, “There are forces in this country that want to keep American citizens from having a rightful say in the future of our nation.”


vox--2020-07-18--6 John Lewis speeches key to understanding his work and legacy

John Lewis , who was born and raised in the Alabama Black Belt and served as a congressman from Georgia ’ s 5th Congressional District for almost 30 years , was an icon of the American civil rights movement .
Through his involvement in pivotal fights for racial equality , from the Selma voting rights campaign , to sit-ins in Nashville , to the March on Washington , and the Freedom Rides , he came to embody both hope and the long struggle for freedom .
While Lewis is most known for his direct protests that actively countered racism and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the March on Washington to the floor of the House of Representatives — also stand as markers of his courage and dedication .
Here are some of Lewis ’ s key speeches .
March on Washington ( August 1963 ) : “ How long can we be patient ?
We want our freedom and we want it now.
” As chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee ( SNCC ) and one of the “ Big Six ” organizers of the March on Washington ( alongside civil rights leaders like Martin Luther King @ @ @ @ @ @ @ John Lewis , then 23 , was the youngest person to speak at the historic March on Washington ; before his death on July 17 , 2020 , he was the last living speaker .
Lewis wrote his speech in rejection of the Kennedy administration ’ s Civil Rights Bill of 1963 , which he said was “ too little too late ” and failed to protect Black people against police brutality , among other ills .
In the first draft , Lewis accused the Kennedy administration of siding with white supremacists ; @ @ @ @ @ @ @ side is the federal government on ?
” But this first draft of the speech was deemed too radical by the march ’ s other organizers .
Lewis was also asked to remove a section in which he pledged to “ burn Jim Crow to the ground ” and “ fragment the South into a thousand pieces , ” reworking the speech to read , “ We will march through the South [ ... ] with the spirit of love and with the spirit of dignity we have shown here today.
” Lewis @ @ @ @ @ @ @ over gradual freedom : “ To those who have said , ‘ Be patient and wait , ’ we have long said that we can not be patient , ” he told the crowd .
“ We do not want our freedom gradually , but we want to be free now !
We are tired .
We are tired of being beaten by policemen .
We are tired of seeing our people locked up in jail over and over again.
” It also drew attention to the thousands of people who couldn ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ receiving “ starvation wages or no wages at all.
” In 2018 , Lewis reflected on his experience delivering the speech .
He recalled that when he looked to his right he could see “ hundreds and hundreds of young people who had been involved during the early days ” and , when he looked ahead , he could see a “ sea of humanity.
” To his left he saw “ young black men and young white men in the trees trying to get a better view.
” At that moment , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , “ This is it.
” The Civil Rights Act of 1964 became law less than a year after the march .
Democratic National Convention ( 1988 ) : “ We are the party of inclusion ” During Lewis ’ s first term as a member of Congress , Atlanta was named the host city of the 1988 Democratic National Convention .
It was Atlanta ’ s big moment in the political spotlight , and Lewis seized on the opportunity to call for unity inside and outside the Democratic Party .
He delivered @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the convention that called for the election of Democratic nominee Michael Dukakis .
Lewis urged Democrats to return to their respective cities to build coalitions that speak to the needs of those who “ have been left out and left behind.
” The remarks underscored Lewis ’ s position as a pioneering leader in the Democratic Party who would continue to fight for the most marginalized : “ We have come a great distance since the 1960s , ” he said in his remarks , which begin at 3:45 in the video above @ @ @ @ @ @ @ convention hall it is self-evident that we are the party of inclusion .
We are an iteration democracy .
One people .
One nation .
One family , the American family.
” Defense of Marriage Act congressional debates ( 1996 ) : “ You can not tell people they can not fall in love ” In 1996 , President Bill Clinton signed into law the Defense of Marriage Act , or DOMA , which prohibited the federal recognition of same-sex marriages for benefits like Social Security , insurance , and tax filing .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ legal union between one man and one woman as husband and wife.
” In debate over the legislation , Lewis argued against this definition , saying , “ You can not tell people they can not fall in love.
” The Supreme Court would later rule in 2013 that DOMA was unconstitutional .
Quoting Martin Luther King , Jr. , Lewis proclaimed , “ Why don ’ t you want your fellow Americans to be happy ?
Why do you attack them ?
Why do you want to destroy the love they hold @ @ @ @ @ @ @ want to crush their hopes , their dreams [ ... ] ?
” MLK Memorial dedication ( October 2006 ) : “ It is better to reconcile and not divide ” Lewis delivered a speech to celebrate the groundbreaking at the Martin Luther King , Jr. Memorial — the first monument on the National Mall in Washington , DC , to honor the contributions of a Black American .
In his remarks , Lewis called King “ one of the founding fathers of modern America.
” He spoke about the first time he @ @ @ @ @ @ @ him to dedicate his life to the fight for civil rights : “ I will never forget the first time I met him , ” Lewis said .
“ I was 15 years old and in the 10th grade in 1955 , growing up on a farm outside Troy , Alabama , when I heard the voice of Martin Luther King , Jr. on an old radio .
He was talking about Rosa Parks and the Montgomery Bus Boycott .
He was talking about the ability of a disciplined and determined people to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Lewis said he hoped the monument to King served as a reminder that love prevails over hate and that “ it is better to reconcile and not divide , it is better to build and not tear down ” — and he emphasized that King ’ s dream had not yet been realized .
Selma 50th anniversary march ( March 2015 ) : “ Get out there and push and pull , until we redeem the soul of America ” On the 50th anniversary of Bloody Sunday , Lewis stood on the Edmund @ @ @ @ @ @ @ almost lost his life .
On March 7 , 1965 , Lewis , then 25 , led more than 600 marchers across the bridge in Selma , Alabama , in an attempt to walk 54 miles from Selma to Montgomery to reach Alabama Gov .
George Wallace and demand voting rights .
But at the end of the bridge , state troopers , some mounted on horseback , tear gassed the marchers and used clubs and whips to violently beat them .
“ A few innocent children of God , some carrying only @ @ @ @ @ @ @ simple bag , a plain purse or a backpack , were inspired to walk 50 dangerous miles from Selma to Montgomery to demonstrate the need for voting rights in the state of Alabama , ” Lewis said .
“ On that day , on that day , 600 people marched into history , walking two by two down this sidewalk , not interfering with the free flow of trade and commerce , not interfering with traffic , with a kind of military discipline.
” In recalling the events , 50 years later , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to Selma to be renewed , reminded , and inspired — because there is so much more to do .
“ We must use this moment to recommit ourselves to do all we can to finish the work .
There is still work left to be done .
Get out there and push and pull until we redeem the soul of America , ” he said .
In February 2020 , Lewis , after being diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer , would visit Selma once more to call the country to action @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , keep our eyes on the prize , ” Lewis said .
“ We must go out and vote like we never ever voted before .
Some people gave more than a little blood .
Some gave their very lives.
” Impeachment hearings and vote ( 2019 ) : “ Our children and their children will ask us , ‘ What did you do ?
What did you say ?
’ ” Lewis was a leading voice calling for the impeachment of President Donald Trump .
In a rousing speech on the House @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Lewis proclaimed that delaying the impeachment of Trump was a serious affront to democracy .
“ Every turn this administration demonstrates disdain and disregard for the law and for the constitution .
They have lied under oath .
They refuse to account for their action and appear before the legislative body who have the constitutional right to inquire about their activities , ” Lewis said in his speech .
Trump was officially impeached in the House in December 2019 .
When the House ultimately voted to impeach , Lewis ’ s speech exemplified @ @ @ @ @ @ @ conscience of Congress.
” He said , “ When you see something that is not right , not just , not fair , you have a moral obligation to say something .
To do something .
... Our children and their children will ask us , ‘ What did you do ?
What did you say ?
’ For some , this vote may be hard .
But we have a mission and a mandate to be on the right side of history.
” Every day at Vox , we aim to answer @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , and our audience around the world , with information that has the power to save lives .
Our mission has never been more vital than it is in this moment : to empower you through understanding .
Vox ’ s work is reaching more people than ever , but our distinctive brand of explanatory journalism takes resources — particularly during a pandemic and an economic downturn .
Your financial contribution will not constitute a donation , but it will enable our staff to continue to offer free articles , videos , and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ this moment requires .
Please consider making a contribution to Vox today .

John Lewis, who was born and raised in the Alabama Black Belt and served as a congressman from Georgia’s 5th Congressional District for almost 30 years, was an icon of the American civil rights movement. Through his involvement in pivotal fights for racial equality, from the Selma voting rights campaign, to sit-ins in Nashville, to the March on Washington, and the Freedom Rides, he came to embody both hope and the long struggle for freedom.
While Lewis is most known for his direct protests that actively countered racism and white supremacy, his speeches — from the March on Washington to the floor of the House of Representatives — also stand as markers of his courage and dedication.
Here are some of Lewis’s key speeches.
March on Washington (August 1963): “How long can we be patient? We want our freedom and we want it now.”
As chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and one of the “Big Six” organizers of the March on Washington (alongside civil rights leaders like Martin Luther King Jr. and A. Philip Randolph), John Lewis, then 23, was the youngest person to speak at the historic March on Washington; before his death on July 17, 2020, he was the last living speaker.
Lewis wrote his speech in rejection of the Kennedy administration’s Civil Rights Bill of 1963, which he said was “too little too late” and failed to protect Black people against police brutality, among other ills. In the first draft, Lewis accused the Kennedy administration of siding with white supremacists; he planned to ask, “Which side is the federal government on?”
But this first draft of the speech was deemed too radical by the march’s other organizers. Lewis was also asked to remove a section in which he pledged to “burn Jim Crow to the ground” and “fragment the South into a thousand pieces,” reworking the speech to read, “We will march through the South [...] with the spirit of love and with the spirit of dignity we have shown here today.”
Lewis’s speech called for immediate freedom over gradual freedom: “To those who have said, ‘Be patient and wait,’ we have long said that we cannot be patient,” he told the crowd. “We do not want our freedom gradually, but we want to be free now! We are tired. We are tired of being beaten by policemen. We are tired of seeing our people locked up in jail over and over again.”
It also drew attention to the thousands of people who couldn’t attend the march because they were receiving “starvation wages or no wages at all.”
In 2018, Lewis reflected on his experience delivering the speech. He recalled that when he looked to his right he could see “hundreds and hundreds of young people who had been involved during the early days” and, when he looked ahead, he could see a “sea of humanity.” To his left he saw “young black men and young white men in the trees trying to get a better view.” At that moment, he said, he said to himself, “This is it.”
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 became law less than a year after the march.
Democratic National Convention (1988): “We are the party of inclusion”
During Lewis’s first term as a member of Congress, Atlanta was named the host city of the 1988 Democratic National Convention. It was Atlanta’s big moment in the political spotlight, and Lewis seized on the opportunity to call for unity inside and outside the Democratic Party.
He delivered a speech on the final night of the convention that called for the election of Democratic nominee Michael Dukakis. Lewis urged Democrats to return to their respective cities to build coalitions that speak to the needs of those who “have been left out and left behind.”
The remarks underscored Lewis’s position as a pioneering leader in the Democratic Party who would continue to fight for the most marginalized: “We have come a great distance since the 1960s,” he said in his remarks, which begin at 3:45 in the video above. “When we look across this convention hall it is self-evident that we are the party of inclusion. We are an iteration democracy. One people. One nation. One family, the American family.”
Defense of Marriage Act congressional debates (1996): “You cannot tell people they cannot fall in love”
In 1996, President Bill Clinton signed into law the Defense of Marriage Act, or DOMA, which prohibited the federal recognition of same-sex marriages for benefits like Social Security, insurance, and tax filing. The law defined marriage as “a legal union between one man and one woman as husband and wife.” In debate over the legislation, Lewis argued against this definition, saying, “You cannot tell people they cannot fall in love.” The Supreme Court would later rule in 2013 that DOMA was unconstitutional.
Quoting Martin Luther King, Jr., Lewis proclaimed, “Why don’t you want your fellow Americans to be happy? Why do you attack them? Why do you want to destroy the love they hold in their hearts? Why do you want to crush their hopes, their dreams [...]?”
MLK Memorial dedication (October 2006): “It is better to reconcile and not divide”
Lewis delivered a speech to celebrate the groundbreaking at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial — the first monument on the National Mall in Washington, DC, to honor the contributions of a Black American.
In his remarks, Lewis called King “one of the founding fathers of modern America.” He spoke about the first time he met King, the moment that inspired him to dedicate his life to the fight for civil rights:
“I will never forget the first time I met him,” Lewis said. “I was 15 years old and in the 10th grade in 1955, growing up on a farm outside Troy, Alabama, when I heard the voice of Martin Luther King, Jr. on an old radio. He was talking about Rosa Parks and the Montgomery Bus Boycott. He was talking about the ability of a disciplined and determined people to make a difference in our society.”
Lewis said he hoped the monument to King served as a reminder that love prevails over hate and that “it is better to reconcile and not divide, it is better to build and not tear down” — and he emphasized that King’s dream had not yet been realized.
Selma 50th anniversary march (March 2015): “Get out there and push and pull, until we redeem the soul of America”
On the 50th anniversary of Bloody Sunday, Lewis stood on the Edmund Pettus Bridge to remember the day he almost lost his life.
On March 7, 1965, Lewis, then 25, led more than 600 marchers across the bridge in Selma, Alabama, in an attempt to walk 54 miles from Selma to Montgomery to reach Alabama Gov. George Wallace and demand voting rights. But at the end of the bridge, state troopers, some mounted on horseback, tear gassed the marchers and used clubs and whips to violently beat them.
“A few innocent children of God, some carrying only a bedroll, a few clutching a simple bag, a plain purse or a backpack, were inspired to walk 50 dangerous miles from Selma to Montgomery to demonstrate the need for voting rights in the state of Alabama,” Lewis said. “On that day, on that day, 600 people marched into history, walking two by two down this sidewalk, not interfering with the free flow of trade and commerce, not interfering with traffic, with a kind of military discipline.”
In recalling the events, 50 years later, Lewis made it clear that he returned to Selma to be renewed, reminded, and inspired — because there is so much more to do.
“We must use this moment to recommit ourselves to do all we can to finish the work. There is still work left to be done. Get out there and push and pull until we redeem the soul of America,” he said.
In February 2020, Lewis, after being diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer, would visit Selma once more to call the country to action. “We must keep the faith, keep our eyes on the prize,” Lewis said. “We must go out and vote like we never ever voted before. Some people gave more than a little blood. Some gave their very lives.”
Impeachment hearings and vote (2019): “Our children and their children will ask us, ‘What did you do? What did you say?’”
Lewis was a leading voice calling for the impeachment of President Donald Trump. In a rousing speech on the House floor on September 24, 2019, Lewis proclaimed that delaying the impeachment of Trump was a serious affront to democracy.
“Every turn this administration demonstrates disdain and disregard for the law and for the constitution. They have lied under oath. They refuse to account for their action and appear before the legislative body who have the constitutional right to inquire about their activities,” Lewis said in his speech.
Trump was officially impeached in the House in December 2019 .
When the House ultimately voted to impeach, Lewis’s speech exemplified why he was sometimes called the “conscience of Congress.” He said, “When you see something that is not right, not just, not fair, you have a moral obligation to say something. To do something. ... Our children and their children will ask us, ‘What did you do? What did you say?’ For some, this vote may be hard. But we have a mission and a mandate to be on the right side of history.”


vox--2020-07-18--3 pieces of pop culture that explain John Lewis’s legacy

Former Rep. John Lewis , who died Friday at age 80 , was one of the superheroes of the American social justice movement .
And like all superheroes , John Lewis has been the subject of a multitude of pop culture stories on his origin , his work , and his legacy .
Lewis told some of those stories himself .
Together with his staffer Andrew Aydin and artist Nate Powell , he shared his life story in the form of the three-volume graphic memoir March .
But he has also been the subject of works interrogating his history and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ insight into Lewis ’ s accomplishments , and that can deepen our understanding of civil rights activism today .
Lewis fought tirelessly against segregation and voter suppression , and that work is chronicled in movies like Ava DuVernay ’ s Selma and the recent documentary John Lewis : Good Trouble .
Here ’ s a pop culture primer to understanding John Lewis ’ s legacy , the work he built his life around , and how that work continues today .
Selma introduces us to a pivotal moment in Lewis ’ s career @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 2014 film Selma is not centered on John Lewis .
It ’ s about Martin Luther King , Jr. , and it climaxes with a march from Selma , Alabama , to Montgomery .
The march would be met with violent police resistance in a police riot known as Bloody Sunday , and it ultimately led to the Voting Rights Act of 1965 .
But any account of that march would be incomplete without mentioning John Lewis , who was one of the youngest of the so-called “ Big Six ” civil rights @ @ @ @ @ @ @ along with Hosea Williams , led marchers across Selma ’ s Edmund Pettus Bridge only to be met by armed state troopers .
And it was Lewis whose skull was cracked in the ensuing police riot .
He would bear the scars of that attack for the rest of his life .
Selma includes the march across the bridge .
But it also delves into Lewis ’ s relationship with King , and the ways in which that relationship makes both titanic figures seem more human .
In 2014 , Vox critic-at-large Emily @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of a movie about Martin Luther King , Jr. , immediately brings to mind sweeping vistas and sing-alongs of “ We Shall Overcome.
” But from everything I ’ ve described so far , it should be clear that DuVernay has far more interest in undercutting those preconceptions than anything else .
She almost had to undercut them .
At just $ 20 million , Selma isn ’ t blessed with the kind of budget that can allow for massive scope , and it fills its cast not with recognizable names ( save @ @ @ @ @ @ @ role ) but , instead , with some of the world ’ s best character actors .
Wilkinson ’ s Johnson is a man struggling to overcome his own prejudices and largely succeeding , while Tim Roth turns George Wallace into a figure who would inspire comic relief if the things he believed weren ’ t so loathsome .
And as Hosea Williams and John Lewis , respectively , Wendell Pierce and Stephan James give King moments of pause and reflection he desperately needs .
John Lewis : Good Trouble is an overview @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and equality “ Get in trouble .
Good trouble .
Necessary trouble , ” is the mantra that John Lewis repeated over and over again throughout his career , both to explain his own activism and to push others into theirs .
And Good Trouble , out this year , is an overview of just how exactly Lewis got into that necessary trouble .
Vox film critic Alissa Wilkinson reviewed the documentary earlier this month : As documentaries of this sort tend to do , John Lewis : Good Trouble glosses over the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and controversial parts of Lewis ’ s career , like his 1986 run for Congress against Julian Bond , which reveals some important ideological and tactical disagreements among Black voters in Georgia and in the US at large .
Lewis is an important enough figure to history to merit a more revealing portrait in the future .
But John Lewis : Good Trouble is still a valuable and interesting introduction to how and why people fought in the civil rights movement and are still fighting today , and a noble tribute to a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ all of it .
With March , a superhero gets his origin story March is Lewis ’ s graphic memoir , told in three volumes .
It covers everything from his childhood baptizing the chickens his sharecropper parents tended , to his work in the anti-segregation sit-ins and marches of the ’ 60s , to his more recent career in Congress .
When I covered the trilogy in 2016 , I wrote : Lewis went to college in Nashville , where he began to attend Jim Lawson ’ s workshops on nonviolent protest @ @ @ @ @ @ @ harrowing : Participants alternate screaming racial slurs and threats at one another , their shadowy faces dominating the panels of each page as spittle flies from their mouths .
“ We tried to dehumanize each other , ” says the caption .
“ We needed to see how each of us would react under stress.
” But the workshops also used gentler tactics .
Participants studied a comic book called Martin Luther King and the Montgomery Story , which outlines King ’ s strategy of nonviolent action as a tool for desegregation .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ , Lewis says , that led him to agree to write his own story as a graphic novel when Aydin approached him with the idea — and he hopes that March , like The Montgomery Story , will teach a new generation about the power of nonviolent protest .
As part of Lewis ’ s aspirations for March , he attended Comic-Con in cosplay as his younger self , including the trench coat and backpack he wore during Bloody Sunday .
Then he led a group of young attendees in a march for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Every day at Vox , we aim to answer your most important questions and provide you , and our audience around the world , with information that has the power to save lives .
Our mission has never been more vital than it is in this moment : to empower you through understanding .
Vox ’ s work is reaching more people than ever , but our distinctive brand of explanatory journalism takes resources — particularly during a pandemic and an economic downturn .
Your financial contribution will not constitute a donation @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to continue to offer free articles , videos , and podcasts at the quality and volume that this moment requires .
Please consider making a contribution to Vox today .

Former Rep. John Lewis, who died Friday at age 80, was one of the superheroes of the American social justice movement. And like all superheroes, John Lewis has been the subject of a multitude of pop culture stories on his origin, his work, and his legacy.
Lewis told some of those stories himself. Together with his staffer Andrew Aydin and artist Nate Powell, he shared his life story in the form of the three-volume graphic memoir March.
But he has also been the subject of works interrogating his history and the injustices he fought against that offer insight into Lewis’s accomplishments, and that can deepen our understanding of civil rights activism today. Lewis fought tirelessly against segregation and voter suppression, and that work is chronicled in movies like Ava DuVernay’s Selma and the recent documentary John Lewis: Good Trouble.
Here’s a pop culture primer to understanding John Lewis’s legacy, the work he built his life around, and how that work continues today.
Selma introduces us to a pivotal moment in Lewis’s career as an activist
Ava DuVernay’s 2014 film Selma is not centered on John Lewis. It’s about Martin Luther King, Jr., and it climaxes with a march from Selma, Alabama, to Montgomery. The march would be met with violent police resistance in a police riot known as Bloody Sunday, and it ultimately led to the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
But any account of that march would be incomplete without mentioning John Lewis, who was one of the youngest of the so-called “Big Six” civil rights leaders. It was Lewis who, along with Hosea Williams, led marchers across Selma’s Edmund Pettus Bridge only to be met by armed state troopers. And it was Lewis whose skull was cracked in the ensuing police riot. He would bear the scars of that attack for the rest of his life.
Selma includes the march across the bridge. But it also delves into Lewis’s relationship with King, and the ways in which that relationship makes both titanic figures seem more human. In 2014, Vox critic-at-large Emily VanDerWerff wrote of Selma:
The thought of a movie about Martin Luther King, Jr., immediately brings to mind sweeping vistas and sing-alongs of “We Shall Overcome.” But from everything I’ve described so far, it should be clear that DuVernay has far more interest in undercutting those preconceptions than anything else. She almost had to undercut them. At just $20 million, Selma isn’t blessed with the kind of budget that can allow for massive scope, and it fills its cast not with recognizable names (save producer Oprah Winfrey in a small supporting role) but, instead, with some of the world’s best character actors. Wilkinson’s Johnson is a man struggling to overcome his own prejudices and largely succeeding, while Tim Roth turns George Wallace into a figure who would inspire comic relief if the things he believed weren’t so loathsome. And as Hosea Williams and John Lewis, respectively, Wendell Pierce and Stephan James give King moments of pause and reflection he desperately needs.
John Lewis: Good Trouble is an overview of a lifetime of working for justice and equality
“Get in trouble. Good trouble. Necessary trouble,” is the mantra that John Lewis repeated over and over again throughout his career, both to explain his own activism and to push others into theirs. And Good Trouble, out this year, is an overview of just how exactly Lewis got into that necessary trouble. Vox film critic Alissa Wilkinson reviewed the documentary earlier this month:
As documentaries of this sort tend to do, John Lewis: Good Trouble glosses over the details of some of the more interesting and controversial parts of Lewis’s career, like his 1986 run for Congress against Julian Bond, which reveals some important ideological and tactical disagreements among Black voters in Georgia and in the US at large. Lewis is an important enough figure to history to merit a more revealing portrait in the future. But John Lewis: Good Trouble is still a valuable and interesting introduction to how and why people fought in the civil rights movement and are still fighting today, and a noble tribute to a man who’s been there for all of it.
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With March, a superhero gets his origin story
March is Lewis’s graphic memoir, told in three volumes. It covers everything from his childhood baptizing the chickens his sharecropper parents tended, to his work in the anti-segregation sit-ins and marches of the ’60s, to his more recent career in Congress. When I covered the trilogy in 2016, I wrote:
Lewis went to college in Nashville, where he began to attend Jim Lawson’s workshops on nonviolent protest. In March, the workshops look harrowing: Participants alternate screaming racial slurs and threats at one another, their shadowy faces dominating the panels of each page as spittle flies from their mouths. “We tried to dehumanize each other,” says the caption. “We needed to see how each of us would react under stress.” But the workshops also used gentler tactics. Participants studied a comic book called Martin Luther King and the Montgomery Story, which outlines King’s strategy of nonviolent action as a tool for desegregation. It was his experience with this comic, Lewis says, that led him to agree to write his own story as a graphic novel when Aydin approached him with the idea — and he hopes that March, like The Montgomery Story, will teach a new generation about the power of nonviolent protest.
As part of Lewis’s aspirations for March, he attended Comic-Con in cosplay as his younger self, including the trench coat and backpack he wore during Bloody Sunday. Then he led a group of young attendees in a march for justice up and down the convention floor.