Never give up

Living proof the battle is worth the fight.

On Monday, after writing a less than optimistic assessment of the state of our politics and our nation, I drove to Raleigh to attend the unveiling of Patricia Timmons-Goodson’s portrait at the Supreme Court of North Carolina. Former Justice Timmons-Goodson became the first African American woman to serve on the state’s highest court as well as the first to be elected by the people of the state to a full term. I was fortunate to become friends with her during her campaign for Congress in 2020. Today, Justice Timmons-Goodson is Dean of the North Carolina Central University School of Law.

During the unveiling ceremony, former Congressman G.K. Butterfield, himself a former member of the court, told the story of how families in Clarendon County, South Carolina, sued the state over segregation after decades of unequal treatment under the doctrine of separate-but-equal. The lawsuit was joined with Brown v. the Board of Education, which found segregation of public schools unconstitutional. Just two months later, Justice Timmons-Goodson was born in South Carolina.

Butterfield’s story gave us a powerful reminder of the arc of our country’s history. He put into context the timeframe of change from the perspective of one person’s life. Born into a society defined by racial segregation, Justice Timmons-Goodson rose to serve on the highest court in the state, breaking a barrier that had held since the founding of our nation. Her life illustrates a story of progress and how fast our society and culture can change.

When I got home that afternoon, I received an email from former Congresswoman Eva Clayton. In 1992, just 32 years ago, she became the first African American woman in history to serve in the U.S. House of Representatives from North Carolina and the first African American to represent the state in Congress since 1901. She had read my newsletter that day and her message to me was, essentially, “Buck up. There’s work to do.” In her words, “We cannot lose hope or faith in democracy or America. We are indeed in a dark place, but we must be the light for freedom and a strong democracy.” For me, it was an unbelievably powerful statement from an unbelievably powerful messenger.

In the course of a few hours, I had gone from writing a discouraging assessment of the state of our politics and our nation to hearing from people who know more about struggle than most Americans ever will. Justice Timmons-Goodson and Congresswoman Clayton are symbols of the possibilities of America. Their lives and careers were made possible because so many Americans did not give up the fight, even when times looked bleaker, at least for Black Americans, than they do today. Their belief in and hope for this country is inspiring because of their lived experiences.

The struggle for civil rights is central to the American story because it embodies the idealism and hope of the people who founded our nation. It’s the belief that we can build a better society that is more just and equal, offering all people the right to “Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.” It’s an idea and a goal that we will never attain perfectly, but one for which we can strive through the ages.

The struggle is also a metaphor for the battle for human progress. The fight is not linear. It’s full of setbacks, some that last for generations. For thirty years or so following the Civil War, Black Americans seemed to be moving toward enjoying the full benefits of citizenship. The reactionary forces of Jim Crow killed those hopes for almost a hundred years. Many, if not most, of the people who kept the fight alive during the darkest periods of Jim Crow never lived to see the success of the Civil Rights Movement, but they never stopped fighting. Congresswoman Clayton and Justice Timmons-Goodson are proof that their struggle mattered.

The fight on which we are about to embark is not about winning the next election. It’s about preserving the hope and opportunity of America for generations to come. We may be in the early dark stages of a very long battle against the forces of reaction and greed, the same ones that spawned Jim Crow. The lives of Justice Timmons-Goodson, Congresswoman Clayton, and Congressman Butterfield are proof that it’s worth the effort. Never give up.