Story: Phillip Tutor | Photos: Submitted
‘John Lewis: Good Trouble’ offers amazing insight into congressman’s legacy
When , he bequeathed to the world a complex and inspiring legacy that serves as a testament to dogged nonviolent opposition and a roadmap of America鈥檚 civil rights movement.
Beaten , attacked alongside , arrested , Lewis earned the sobriquet of 鈥渢he conscience of Congress鈥� during his 33-year career in Washington.
That legacy flows throughout In recognition of Black History Month, the baby直播 will hold a screening and panel discussion of the 96-minute film on Feb. 23 at Wallace Hall鈥檚 Bridges Auditorium. The screening begins at 5 p.m. and is open to the public.
鈥溾�楪ood Trouble鈥� tells the inspiring story of late Congressman John Lewis, an American hero who spent his life fighting for voting rights and racial justice,鈥� said Dr. B.J. Kimbrough, UWA鈥檚 chief diversity officer and dean of the School of Graduate Studies. 鈥淭his year, for our annual Black History Commemoration, UWA has embraced the theme, 鈥楬onoring the Past, Inspiring the Future.鈥� Through this film, the UWA community will be able to reflect on its role as a hub for civic engagement and inspire future generations to do something that matters and make good trouble when necessary.鈥�
The panel discussion will feature Arnon, co-founder of Color Farm Media, and Dr. Tyshawn Gardner, senior pastor of Plum Grove Baptist Church in Tuscaloosa, who serves as vice president of student affairs at Stillman College, teaches adjunct courses at Samford University鈥檚 Beeson Divinity School, and is chief executive officer of the Tuscaloosa-based Citizens Impacting Community Association nonprofit.
After Lewis, a Georgia Democrat, passed away at the age of 80 on June 17, 2020, he became the first Black lawmaker to lie in state in the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol — a visual symbol honoring the man whose skull was fractured by white people violently opposed to Black Americans鈥� quest for voting rights and societal equalities.
One of the many benefits of screening 鈥淛ohn Lewis: Good Trouble鈥� on American campuses, Arnon said, is the broadening of students鈥� knowledge of the congressman鈥檚 legacy and political impact. Today鈥檚 campuses feature students well aware of Lewis鈥� life. But not all do, he said.
鈥淚 think that there are some people who actually don’t know much about Congressman Lewis at all, and some people, surprisingly, have never even heard of him,鈥� Arnon said. 鈥淎nd that always surprised me a little bit. But when they see the film, actually, I think that they realize how important his legacy is.鈥�
Filmed before the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, the documentary grew from the merging of two distinct projects and existing relationships between Lewis鈥� office, Porter and Color Farm Media鈥檚 founders. Arnon and Alexander had campaigned with Lewis for Hillary Clinton鈥檚 presidential bid. Porter had produced the Netflix film, 鈥淏obby Kennedy for President,鈥� and embarked on her own Lewis documentary that carried the support of CNN Films.
Conversations between Color Farm Media and the congressman鈥檚 Atlanta office connected Arnon and Alexander to Porter, who was 鈥渢otally on board鈥� with the collaboration, Arnon said, and agreed to direct the film.
鈥淒awn Porter has incredible experience directing and producing films, and she has a whole team of people that she loves to work with, like the cinematographers and the editors,鈥� Arnon said. 鈥淪o what we really brought us value was in that we had these relationships. Any congressional office is not necessarily easy to navigate or to work with, and there’s a lot of difficulties and challenges in terms of scheduling a film and shooting with them because it’s a moving target.鈥�
For viewers familiar with Lewis鈥� legacy, it is the access given to the documentarians that resonates throughout 鈥淛ohn Lewis: Good Trouble.鈥� Interspersed with familiar scenes of the congressman on Capitol Hill and at campaign events are glimpses of Lewis reading the morning newspaper in his Atlanta home; on drives through his baby直播 hometown of Troy; walking the grounds of his family鈥檚 farm; and interviews with his siblings.
One poignant moment happens when Henry Louis Gates Jr., the Harvard University professor who hosts recounts telling Lewis that researchers had determined that his great-great grandfather had registered to vote just two years after the end of the Civil War in 1867.
The end of Reconstruction and subsequent voter-suppression legislation in Southern states prevented other Lewis family members from voting — until Lewis did so nearly a century later.
鈥淚 guess it鈥檚 in my DNA,鈥� Lewis said.
Since its release, 鈥淛ohn Lewis: Good Trouble鈥� has been seen worldwide and screened on myriad campuses, including a number of Historically Black Colleges and Universities. But Arnon, a graduate of Emory University in Atlanta, is thrilled that UWA is bringing the film to its Livingston campus.
鈥淥bviously, baby直播 is a critically important state with respect to this film,鈥� Arnon said. 鈥淭hat’s where John Lewis was from. His family is still there. And in western baby直播, really close to Mississippi, just to be frank, there’s still an enormous amount of racism (in the region). There’s enormous amount of voter suppression.
鈥淏ut what we do see is that there’s also folks who are leaning into better understanding the perspective of John Lewis and his mission to create a beloved community. I do believe in that. I believe that is a possibility. And one of the keys to sort of moving beyond some of the challenges that we face in the nation is exposure. It’s exposure to other people, people that might not look like yourself. It’s exposure to people who come from different religions to different backgrounds in general.鈥�
Through this film, the UWA community will be able to reflect on its role as a hub for civic engagement and inspire future generations to do something that matters and make good trouble when necessary.鈥�
— Dr. B.J. Kimbrough, UWA’s chief diversity officer
Filmmaking and storytelling, Arnon said, can empower negative stereotypes, or it 鈥渃ould really help people to understand the world in different ways and to understand other people,鈥� the latter of which is baked into the Lewis documentary.
As a medium, documentary films have value as entertainment; after all, documentaries that vary widely in quality and tone are prevalent on streaming services such as Netflix and Hulu. But the producers of 鈥淛ohn Lewis: Good Trouble鈥� anticipate the film attaining an 鈥渆vergreen status鈥� that affirms its role as a teaching tool. That Lewis enjoyed the documentary — 鈥淗e cried and really loved the film,鈥� Arnon said — gives it a further patina of expectation.
鈥淗opefully it is one of those films that people view repeatedly over time,鈥� Arnon said, 鈥渂ut also that colleges, universities and other schools do lean on to teach about the importance of voting rights, to teach in political science classes, to teach in human rights classes, teaching all kinds of different classes. That’s definitely something that we were hoping for. And so far, the reception has probably been as good as we could have expected.鈥�