50501 Rhode Island celebrates John Lewis and Good Trouble as an antidote to Trump
“We must join together in community and in recognition of the importance of diversity in our communities and in standing against the American Fascist party attacks," said 50501 organizer Lauren.
“We’re gathering here today in honor of John Lewis,” said Lauren, a small business owner and organizer with 50501 Rhode Island, at a State House rally on Thursday afternoon as the audience of over 300 people cheered. Similar rallies took place across the country.
“Good trouble,” said Lauren. “Good trouble - because guess that’s how we’re going to win this - with good trouble. As many of you know, John Lewis was a civil rights leader, a politician who dedicated his life to fighting for social justice and equality, a leader in the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), and represented Georgia in Congress for over 30 years. His activism spans back to the civil rights marches with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., from the Freedom Riders to the March on Washington. He and many others put their lives on the line to fight for the freedoms of all, particularly the marginalized people of this great nation.
“Well, guess what, guys? It’s our turn,” continued Lauren. “We must join together in community and in recognition of the importance of diversity in our communities and in standing against the American Fascist party attacks. We must stand together to protect our values, beliefs, and freedom for all.”
Here’s the video:
Reina
Reina: I am an organizer with the 50501 Rhode Island movement and a proud daughter of immigrant parents. I am proud to be a daughter of parents who sacrificed everything to come here and look for a better life. I would like to publicly express my gratitude to them for being hard workers, just like all immigrants in this country are.
Today, we gather in the spirit of the late John Lewis, a civil rights icon who taught us the power of good trouble. He told us, and I’m going to quote him:
“Get in good trouble, necessary trouble, and help redeem the soul of America.”
That call rings louder now than ever as we confront injustice in our own time. John Lewis marched with Dr. King and was beaten on the Edmund Pettus Bridge. He was arrested over 40 times and never stopped fighting for dignity and justice. Good trouble. He believed that protest was patriotic and that we must speak out when the government overreaches and rights are denied.
Another quote from him:
“When you see something that is not right, not just, not fair, you have a moral obligation ... to do something.”
That’s why we’re here today. The struggles Lewis fought are not history. Things are happening now. Racism still poisons our societal structure and systemic institutions. Racism and oppression are the primary reasons why we still face injustice today, from police brutality to ICE raids, from local police collaborating with ICE to complicit politicians, from executive overreach to unconstitutional governmental practices, and from the government’s support for genocide to the targeting of anti-war and free Palestine activists. Immigrants are being separated from their families, detained in cages, and terrorized by ICE. We, the people, call for the abolishment of ICE.
Audience: Abolish ICE! Abolish ICE! Abolish ICE! Abolish ICE! Abolish ICE! Abolish ICE!
Reina: Children torn from their parents and communities are living in fear. John Lewis saw these injustices as a part of the same fight he waged his whole life. In 2007, he compared ICE raids to the midnight knocks of the Jim Crow South, and he said,
“Under the cover of law, the law is broken.”
He stood with immigrant families and called on us to protect them because he knew that an injustice to one is a threat to all. Lewis deeply believed that we are one people and are now in the same boat. His courage wasn’t just for the history books; it is a blueprint we must follow.
He told us to place our bodies between injustice and the innocent, to speak truth to power, and never to be afraid to make some noise. And let me be clear: This is not just an attack on our community, it is an attack on workers and the working class, where billionaires are funding governmental policy and decisions.
Let’s carry the torch forward. Let’s resist division. Let’s demand dignity for immigrants, the LGBTQ+ community, the Palestinian people, the BIPOC community, and the working class. Let’s challenge systemic racism and make a commitment to dismantle systems of oppression on an ideological, institutional, interpersonal, and individual level.
Only then is someone, like the tyrant in the White House, removed, and another one is never allowed to rise to power again. We must challenge the seeds of white supremacy in our everyday lives. Let’s create the beloved community Lewis dreamed of.
As he said:
“Do not get lost in a sea of despair. Be hopeful. Our struggle is not the struggle of a day, it is a struggle of a lifetime.”
Let’s honor John Lewis, not just with words but with action. Let’s get in good trouble - necessary trouble - the kind that brings change.
Our work is far from over, and 50501 Rhode Island is starting to develop plans to support a boycott within our state. We’ll call for more coalition-building to build community support for this venture. I spoke with many community members during the July 4th sit-in, who expressed interest in finding better ways and easily accessible resources to sustain a long-term boycott.
We listened, supported, and called on all community members to join us as we made good trouble at home.
Representative David Morales
David Morales: Say it loud and say it clear: Immigrants are welcome here!
Audience: Say it loud and say it clear: Immigrants are welcome here!
David Morales: As neighbors, it is up to us to take care of our communities. We have watched, for the last seven months, as human rights have been violated daily. There has been no due process toward our immigrant neighbors, and we have watched as they have been kidnapped and torn apart from their families in broad daylight. In some cases, U.S. citizens were detained because their skin was brown. This is not about keeping the United States safe. This is a targeted attack, fueled by racism, through the Trump Administration.
Together, we are here to reject that notion and the rogue agency of ICE, because they have abused their powers. I want to be clear: This isn’t just something happening in Texas, Arizona, or California. It’s happening in our backyard. Since January, there have been over 250 detainments by ICE in Rhode Island. That is an average of almost two a day. And while they try to paint immigrants as being criminals with a violent background who must be taken away for public safety, the reality is that these are often parents, loved ones, and community members taken away from their families.
We’ve had cases outside of some of our local schools, such as one where a father was coming off an evening shift at a restaurant in Cranston. We’ve also had cases where someone was coming out of traffic court and was detained thereafter.
Audience: Shame!
David Morales: And it is shameful, shameful. That’s happening to our community members. Rhode Islanders are being taken away, transferred to the Wyatt Detention Center, and shipped to who knows where.
Audience: Shame! Shame! Shame! Shame! Shame!
David Morales: That is why we must care for one another. And that starts with making sure that as allies, anytime you hear offensive and racist terms such as "illegal alien" or anything defamatory against our immigrant neighbors, we need you to push back. We need you to let others know that that type of language is not tolerated, because that is the system that Trump is playing. It’s a simple formula we’ve seen across the world. You dehumanize a population so much so that you can justify wicked and nasty actions, such as setting up some Alligator Alcatraz in Florida.
Together, we stand, and we say, "Abolish ICE!" At the same time, we recognize that we have strengths. Right here, in our backyard, we take care of our neighbors. Right there, I see a lovely sign that is the Deportation Defense Hotline. You are to call that line anytime you see an unmarked vehicle with tinted windows in your community or any form of suspicion of ICE in your backyard.
The number is 401-675-1414. And I’m here to tell you all, right now, that that number has worked wonders. You won’t see the media report on it, but there have been cases where detainments have been stopped because community members have stepped up. But at the same time, there have been detainments that have gone unreported. That is why it’s up to us to stay vigilant, stand with our neighbors, and push back against any offensive language aimed at dehumanizing immigrants. So the good trouble is this: We will clarify that ICE is not welcome here!
Audience: ICE is not welcome here! ICE is not welcome here! ICE is not welcome here!
David Morales: Our communities have spoken. We know that will be tough over the next three years, but we must maintain this energy. Do not let the fatigue kick in. Do not allow for the normalization of dehumanizing immigrants. Together, we will stand with our neighbors and continue to say: Immigrants are welcome here!
Maya
Maya: When immigrant rights are under attack, what do we do?
Audience: Stand up, fight back!
Maya: When immigrant rights are under attack, what do we do?
Audience: Stand up, fight back!
Maya: We’re here today to launch and continue a mass resistance, a struggle against not only the attacks on immigrants, but the attacks on all working people across this country and the attacks on the people of the entire world by the Trump Administration and their billionaire backers.
I’m an organizer with the Deportation Defense Coalition. Since Trump took office, we have begun building a coalition between the Party for Socialism and Liberation, the Olneyville Neighborhood Association, and the Alliance to Mobilize Our Resistance. We have since been joined by hundreds of volunteers from the Providence area who are actively organizing to fight against ICE terror.
This is a terror campaign that is only getting worse. How many of you have heard about the "big beautiful bill" that got passed two weeks ago? How many of you have heard that they’re trying to add 8,500 new ICE agents with that bill? That they’ve added over $140 billion for deportations, and that they’re using the very same money that they cut from our Medicare, Medicaid, and food assistance programs?
Let’s keep in mind that this campaign of terror has caused unspeakable harm to our immigrant communities, and it is not on the decline. It is on the rise. We must be honest about this. Just last week, in Ventura County, California, there were several mass ICE raids, one of which took place against two farms, chasing hundreds of farm workers through the fields with hundreds of ICE agents, homeland security officers, and the National Guard.
Audience: Shame! Shame! Shame!
Maya: It has gone so far that one man was murdered in this raid.
Jaime Alanis Garcia was running for his life, fleeing the ICE agents, when he fell from a 30-foot-high building. He ended up in a hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries a couple of days later.
This is an escalation of ICE terror. Jaime was the primary breadwinner for his family, like so many of the immigrants who are being kidnapped. Just last week, here in Providence, Rhode Island, we’re disgusted to say that a woman was reported to the defense line who was kidnapped in front of the courthouse. The agents refused to identify themselves, wearing plain clothes, in an unmarked car, serving as the secret police, terrorizing our communities.
Audience: Shame! Shame! Shame!
Maya: This is what we are up against. And let’s be clear, it’s not new. ICE was started under Bush, expanded under Obama, expanded under Trump the first time, expanded under Biden, and is now being escalated to its most extreme form yet.
Cuts to Medicaid were carried out under previous presidencies. Cuts to SNAP. This is part of a long-term plan by the billionaires to roll back our rights and put people in a state of terror where they will not resist and will not fight, not only for the rights that we have, but for more rights.
Our communities don’t need less immigrants, Medicaid, or food assistance. We need a system that serves every single person.
Because we understand this is a long-term systemic issue, we also understand that winning is by organizing and fighting back, right? That’s what the farm workers are doing. After that mass raid last week, they’re launching a three-day strike. That’s why we have to get organized. That’s why we are asking every person in the Rhode Island community to take up the task of spreading the Deportation Defense line phone number [401-675-1414], because the mass raids have not come to Providence - yet. But we want to be ready when they do.
We want to be ready like the people of Ventura County, who have been organizing VC Defensa, a defense network like the one we’re organizing here in Rhode Island. Hundreds of community members stood against ICE for hours and were able to prevent deportation.
We need to get organized and understand that people can make this change. We will not see change by mere incremental reforms, although we must fight for them. We need to ensure that this system promotes, supports, and organizes for the rights of working people, not the billionaires.
401-675-1414. Your responsibility today is to save this number on your phone and share it with every person you know in Rhode Island so that when we see ICE, we can respond immediately. This is what community looks like. This is what resistance looks like.
Who saves the people?
Audience: Only the people save the people!
Maya: Who saves the people?
Audience: Only the people save the people!
Shaina
Shaina: Fellow change makers! Today, we are gathering in solidarity to show the nation we will keep showing up to defend justice, protect our freedoms, be the voices of the unheard, and keep hope alive. What you are doing right here, right now, is showing tremendous courage. It takes bravery to hold these signs, raise your voices, and speak the truth about what is happening in our communities.
It’s okay to be frightened. Fear means we care. It means we understand the risks, especially under an administration that has made fear a part of our daily lives. But today, you woke up, drove here, and declared that good trouble lives on in Rhode Island.
Civil disobedience isn’t just historic; it is personal. It looks like sitting in when we’re told to leave. It’s speaking up when we’re told to be quiet, refusing to comply with injustice, and doing so with intention and moral clarity. We can start right here, right now, in our neighborhood, our school systems, and at our city and town halls. Resistance is no longer just a word, unfortunately. It is the way of life.
Whether you were born here or crossed the oceans to be here, this fight is ours. All the fear and injustices created by this administration - they don’t care about your income. They don’t care about your race, religion, cultural upbringing, or status.
We are all at risk.
They’re counting on that fear to silence us. But we are not backing down because we believe that families should be able to walk the streets in Rhode Island without being kidnapped by masked cowards, that hard-working people should have access to food, housing, and healthcare, and that these are basic human rights. We support candidates who run not for power but to call out the failures in our government and build something better.
Resistance isn’t always protest signs and chanting. It’s organizing and finding candidates who reflect our values, or becoming one ourselves. It’s asking ourselves, can I give my time towards a campaign, cause, movement, or organization that truly cares about me and my community? For some of you, that answer isn’t just to support a candidate, it’s to become one. You don’t need a law degree, you don’t need a wealthy network to run for office. I’m telling you this right now: I’ve done it. What you need, what makes a qualified candidate, is being a human with integrity, heart, and the will to fight for your community.
We need school board members who believe in the truth, not decolonization and erasing our history. We need city and town councilors who get the struggle, who know what it takes and what it’s like living paycheck to paycheck. We need state and federal officials who have lived the issues they’re voting on.
And while we’re on elections, don’t forget those who stood by Trump. Don’t forget the lawmakers who pushed his agenda or stayed silent while immigrant rights were stripped away. Don’t forget those who voted along party lines, despite the constituents who begged them to vote otherwise.
They want you to forget. They’re counting on our short memories and our low voter turnout. But we remember. We’re going to vote and we’ll run to replace them with someone better.
You’re someone better. Civic engagement is resistance. It protects neighbors, it exposes lies, and rejects cruelty. They say if you can’t beat them, join them. I’m saying, join them to transform the system from within. We must not conform. It doesn’t mean we’re bending the knee because we’ll never bend the knee. We must bring new life into our legislative branch that’s been long starved of empathy, equity, and accountability. The privileged have held the reins far too long, and their time is up. The power to shape policy belongs to us. Let’s not be distracted by the chaos, kidnappings, public rants on Truth, shady foreign alliances, or the empty insults being hurled at even their supporters. It’s all noise. It is noise meant to make you forget the racism, lies, party line votes, and unethical decisions they’re making in our name.
But here’s what they didn’t count on: us. They didn’t count on us showing up, speaking out, running, and engaging. My ancestors, the courageous Taino women and strong Puerto Rican men, did not do all they did and endured the sufferings for us to settle. Not now, not after seeing how deeply broken our system has become. Do not settle, do not wait for permission. America isn’t finished. She’s flawed, and that is an opportunity.
When immigrant farmers are deported, when the police aid in abductions, and when school boards try to erase our history, we rise. That’s when we get in good trouble. Good trouble means showing up to our city council meetings. It’s pushing back when books are banned. Good trouble is organizing and providing mutual aid for our communities. When our system fails us, good trouble is running for office or getting someone elected who represents us.
Let’s be clear: our democracy is a hand-me-down. It is tarnished and distorted, but it’s ours now. We have a duty to reinvent our democracy with compassion, courage, and a conviction that everyone deserves to be seen, heard, and protected. We’re going to leave here today feeling energized and tired. I get it. And I’m sure you will ask yourself, What is next?
We are what happens next.
We cannot spend more energy or time grieving the decisions made with the “big, beautiful bill” and everything else. We need to welcome democracy and trouble into our lives. It is waiting for us. We are the answer. We are the ones who will show up, trembling, but still speaking. We’re the ones who will hold the line and build something better than what we were handed. We are here not to beg for change but to make the change. When you leave here today, I want you to ask yourself: How will you take your place in America’s democracy?
Never forget they didn’t expect us, but we are here and not going away. We are just getting started.
State Senator Tiara Mack
Tiara Mack: John Lewis’s legacy is all about good trouble. He reminds us that democracy is not a state but an act. Every day, we must decide if our democracy is worth saving by showing up for the communities who matter most. As a youth leader, Lewis walked across the Edmund Pettus Bridge. At 23 years old, he spoke in front of the March on Washington, demanding that our country see every person as equal. He was a Freedom Rider who went through the segregated South and said that our country does not see everyone as equal, and we must demand it every single day.
He fought for our democracy because it is a choice. Whether we decide that every human deserves due process because they are on this land. Whether we decide the Alligator Alcatraz confinement camp - internment camp, concentration camp - that has tried to disappear our people, is a moral stain on our country; whether we have decided that we laid the pathway by allowing the prison industrial complex to disappear Black and brown people since the emancipation of this country; since we decided that we would watch the televised genocide in Gaza; we have allowed all of these atrocities because we say, every day, that our democracy was not worth fighting for.
But Lewis said, we must get into good trouble every day and decide: Are we going to fight for our First Amendment?? Are we going to fight for the people this country wants to disappear? Are we going to fight to make sure our trans siblings are protected in this country because they are justly deserving of those rights?, Will we fight daily and decide whether they will seize our courts because they were allowed to ram through three nominations in the last Trump Administration?
Or, are we going to decide to be more like Ketanji Brown Jackson, the first black woman justice who dissents every day against this regime? We know our democracy is more important and more precious than the division they try to tell us that it is not important to fight for. Our country is more important than all the things they tell us. Whether it is dehumanizing or migrant communities, trying to throw our trans under the bus just so we can "get more seats" or the most troubling: trying to have a power grab, where Trump has directed the State of Texas to redraw their maps in an off year to gain five more seats, illegally, by manipulating the maps all across our country. That’s why we gather here today: John Lewis taught us nonviolence, and we are stronger in numbers.
And the 3.5% rule, which I love to bring up. Erica Chenowith studied many nonviolent and violent protests and determined that most nonviolent protests resulted in change. All we need is 3.5% of the population to say, every day, that our country cannot be under attack by these white supremacist racists who want only to divide us and take away our rights to healthcare, freedom of speech, and our neighbor’s country’s dignity.
We have to decide that good trouble is worth getting to every day. It starts with marching in the streets. It starts with turning to your neighborhoods and saying, “I’m going to make sure no one goes hungry.” Whether it’s showing up for Food, Not Bombs, donating to your local pantry, showing up to your public library, learning how to engage in activist theory, learning how to read Black liberationist theorists, learning how to lead from the people this country has told for generations that they were not deserving of the same rights as their white counterparts.
What this country was founded upon, and later amendments allowed, is equal protection for Black and brown Americans. Are we going to fight for that every day? You make that decision.
Thank you for honoring Joan Lewis’s legacy of nonviolence, protest, and making good trouble. I will close it out with my favorite rallying cry from Assata Shakur:
“It is our duty to fight for our freedom. It is our duty to win. We must love each other and support each other. All we have to lose is our chains.”