Empowering Students: How Good Trouble Shapes the Future of Protest

John Lewis’ policy of Good Trouble can help kids learn the value of protest and activism this Black History Month.& What is Good Trouble? Popularized by late civil rights leader John Lewis, Good Trouble describes necessary actions to create meaningful change in the world. An example of Good Trouble, as composer Jefferey Mumford describes it, are protests, marches and sit-ins. Actions that may ultimately result in you getting arrested but are for the sake of human rights.& “As I ponder the phrase “good trouble” many images with which we are familiar come to mind, such as marches, boycotts, sit-ins, speaking truth to power—identifying the unacceptable as just that: unacceptable.”& & & In “Good Trouble: Pioneering the Power of Protest,” Andrew Jezisek cites non-violent protest that followed in the footsteps of Montgomery Boycott as a prime example of what it means to incite Good Trouble. The protests were mainly centered in Alabama, what they state was at the time was one of the most segregated states in America, which ultimately culminated in the march on Washington in April 1963.  Benjamin Cowins at a sit -in in Tallahassee | Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons What Good Trouble Looks Like Peaceful resistance and its...