LOCAL
Kimberly Marsh, The Oklahoma Eagle
Photo: Kimberly Marsh, The Oklahoma Eagle
On the fifth anniversary of John Lewis’ death, about 30 Tulsans gathered on Thursday to remember his legacy and project hope.
Hannibal Johnson, a Greenwood historian and author of 10 books chronicling Tulsa’s history and Black Wall Street, spoke to the audience evoking Lewis’ coined phrase.
“You’re here and you’re in trouble, but it’s good trouble. It’s the right kind of trouble,” Johnson told the group which featured members from Good Trouble Tulsa and Indivisible Tulsa.
Since Trump’s second term began, hundreds of protests have occurred across the country, including some here in Tulsa. Many have centered around his administration’s immigration raids and what some have called “authoritarian tactics.”
Johnson said “troubling” and “disappointing” don’t fully capture the impact of what’s happening, but “this too shall pass” referring to the words of Martin Luther King Jr. whom Lewis marched alongside.
“Hope is more than cheerfulness and more than mere optimism. It’s active, not passive,” he said. “We, individually and as a society, must find a way to maintain and sustain hope,” finding strategies and pathways to move forward.
Johnson cited three kinds of global macro strategies – introspection, engagement and advocacy – from his latest book, “10 Ways We Can Advance Social Justice Without Destroying Each Other.”
And if any place can implement those and maintain a hopeful spirit, it’s Tulsa.
Johnson calls it the Greenwood mindset: an indomitable spirit in the people of Greenwood, both past and present, that shows moral conviction and courage.
That spirit was on display building Black Wall Street and in rebuilding the community after the massacre of 1921.
“We’re blessed with historical icons who showed us that all manner of adversity can be navigated. They’ve shown us the character traits that are necessary to do that: vision, faith, determination, perseverance [and] resilience,” Johnson said.
