A Dream for America: John Lewis video

Video Critical Thinking and Application Assignment

Before the "A Dream for America" video, I knew that John Lewis was a young civil rights activist. The fact that he was under 25-year-old when organizing the Selma to Montgomery march came as a shock to me (A Dream for America 0:52). From the beginning, I had assumed he was a middle-aged man. That he was taken into custody more than forty times during his activism career was a further shock to me.

According to John Lewis, patriotism does not permit staying in one's "comfort zone" at home. We need to get out there and cause some good trouble. In this sense, it denotes taking bold action to stand up for anything we believe in, even if it involves confronting criticism or danger.

The video effects me due to the new insights it provided on the Civil Rights Movement and John Lewis's part. Furthermore, it has motivated me to advocate for equality and pursue my goals with tenacity.

The content of this video could be applied to current-day challenges and struggles in numerous ways. The first way it may assist is to encourage individuals to fight for what they think is right, even if it means risking personal danger. Second, it has the potential to inspire individuals to band together to accomplish goals. Last but not least, it might be used to encourage individuals to keep their optimism alive in the face of adversity.

To my knowledge, John Lewis was among the first Freedom Riders (Lewis et al., 2020). In order to bring attention to the injustice of segregation in the South's public transportation system, a group of activists known as the Freedom Riders boarded buses together with people of other races around the region.

References

A Dream for America: John Lewis video.  https://voicesofthecivilrightsmovement.com/video-collection/2020/2/4/a-dream-for-americaDo

Lewis, W., Pauwels, A., Underwood, B., & Rodriguez, A. (2020). John Lewis: Profile of a Civil Rights Legend. ommunications Lawyer, 36(1), 19.