Good Trouble Lives On
Former U.S. Representative Charlie Gonzalez | Published on 7/15/2025
One of the greatest privileges I experienced in my 14 years as a U. S. Representative was to serve alongside a true American hero, John Lewis. One of my fondest memories was to listen to Congressman Lewis recount his experiences as he accompanied the Rev. Martin Luther King throughout the South on those historic civil rights marches. The marchers were met with fire hoses, police dogs and were severely beaten and jailed. As he spoke, one could not help but notice the scar from a head fracture suffered during one of those marches.
During debates on legislation negatively impacting voting rights, Congressman Lewis would remind us that it was time to “get in good trouble.” That we had an obligation to strenuously oppose laws that would disenfranchise voters. To deny access to any group to the ballot box today, would eventually deny access to your group tomorrow. He often exclaimed, “We may have come on different ships, but we are all in the same boat now.”
I have no doubt that Congressman Lewis would view the SAVE Act as an attack on voting rights. Under the guise of protecting the integrity of elections, the SAVE Act is actually a retreat from the progress America has made in protecting and extending the right to vote to millions of people. No one is asking us to risk our lives to march, to be met with fire hoses, police dogs and suffer being jailed, but we are being asked to “get in good trouble.” We must make our voices heard. Email or call your United States senators and let them know of your opposition to the SAVE Act. It is a “solution looking for a problem” with devastating consequences to the right to register and vote. The SAVE Act is an affront to the sacrifices made by John Lewis and his fellow civil rights pioneers. Today is our turn to safeguard those rights, and we must not fail.