If one drove down Main Street in downtown Woodland on Thursday afternoon, they probably spotted well over 100 residents gathered with protest signs and American flags lining the sidewalks around Heritage Plaza.

These folks came together to honor the late Civil Rights Activist turned Congressman John Lewis, who marched alongside folks such as Martin Luther King Jr. during the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s.

A key figure in the Civil Rights Movement, Lewis served as chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and participated in pivotal events, including the Freedom Rides and the March on Washington. He is particularly remembered for his role in the Bloody Sunday march in Selma, Alabama.

The Thursday event honored the legacy of Lewis five years after his death in 2020 by taking to the streets to, as Lewis himself put it, “get in good trouble.” Residents gathered with signs to protest ongoing actions from the current presidential administration, ranging on a plethora of issues from mass deportation efforts targeting undocumented persons to legislative actions aiming to dismantle protections for transgender individuals.

The event also featured a program filled with speakers who talked about Lewis’s life work and how they believe current events are aiming to dismantle the very notion of equality that folks like the late congressman worked for.

Woodland Pastor Larry Love gave the welcoming address, using his and Lewis’s shared Christian faith to paint a picture of what the Civil Rights leader was all about. Love quoted one of Lewis’s known favorite Bible verses, from the Book of Micah 6:8 — “He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.”“To do justice is to do that which is fair, equitable and life-giving for every single person — love and kindness makes a difference,” Love explained to the crowd. “Doing justice and living in covenant, love and kindness is undergirded by walking humbly with God. That is a spirituality that causes us to be people of love and mercy, people who seek the well being of all and seek to do that justice, work nonviolently and graciously and seeking to bring people together instead of dividing. That is good trouble.”

Congressional Rep. Mike Thompson’s Constituent Services Representative, Mosias Díaz, spoke on Thompson’s behalf, as he is currently in Washington, D.C., serving in his role as Yolo County’s congressman. Díaz presented a note written by Thompson relaying his memories of the late Lewis.

Thompson’s letter acknowledged the current political events, including the recent passage of what President Donald Trump called the “Big Beautiful Bill,” which makes drastic funding cuts to Medicaid and Medicare, as well as cuts to other federal agencies.

“The president’s reckless policies are having real life and death consequences for Americans, and we won’t let him get away with this dangerous nonsense,” Diaz read off of Thompson’s letter. “I will keep fighting the President’s disastrous agenda on every front, in the Congress, in the courts and in the court of public opinion, but I can’t do it alone. Everyone needs to keep raising their voices and making good trouble.”

The inspirational speaker for the Thursday protest was Pastor Louise Britts, a Minnesota native who has found her way to Woodland in recent years. She spoke about Lewis’s life, specifically how he was motivated to get involved in the Civil Rights Movement following the lynching of Emmett Till, a 14-year-old boy who was murdered after being wrongfully accused of offending a white woman in Mississippi in 1955.

“He (Lewis) was about the same age as Emmett Till and when he looked at him, he said, ‘that could have been me,’” Britts explained. ” He said that there’s gotta be something wrong with the country, that if you go out to the store, you could get killed before you get back home. There’s got to be something wrong in a country where if you go for a walk, you could be hung just because you walked on the wrong side of the street.”

Britts also tied her Christian faith to the story of Lewis, using the story of the Good Samaritan to illustrate what Lewis meant when he was quoted saying, “get in good trouble.” The parable, as told by Jesus in the Bible, focuses on a traveler who is beaten and left to die on the side of the road. A priest and a Levite, both religious figures, pass by without helping. A Samaritan, a member of a group traditionally despised by Jews, stops to assist the injured man, bandaging his wounds, taking him to an inn, and paying for his care.

The parable highlights the importance of loving one’s neighbor, even those considered enemies or strangers, and emphasizes that true compassion and justice transcend religious or social boundaries, something Britts argued was key to Lewis’s activism and legacy.

“Justice is beyond charity. Charity is bandaging somebody up and taking care of them, and that’s very much needed, but our call from God is to do justice, and justice has to be good trouble,” she said. “Disturbing the system and changing systems that are wrong, dismantling systems that are unequal, dismantling systems that defy humanity and say that this person over here is not a full human.”

Woodland’s Vice Mayor Tom Stallard also spoke to the crowd on Thursday afternoon, saying he felt hopeful after seeing the turnout of the Lewis memorial event.

“Instead of just sitting in our homes watching news, reading online news, and despairing for all the not-so-happy things that are going on, we come together and realize how strongly we all feel,” Stallard offered. “We’re willing to step forward and be active and do what we can to do about this.”