Transportation As a Civil Right: a Conversation with US Rep. John Lewis

Statement

Last week, the Department had the honor of hosting a conversation with U.S. Rep. John Lewis on Transportation and Civil Rights. I wanted DOT employees to spend a little time with Congressman Lewis so that we could all better understand the connection between transportation and civil rights, and how the work he and his fellow Civil Rights foot soldiers did to desegregate the country's transportation systems in the 1960s connects to the work we are doing at DOT today.

John Lewis, who was arrested more than 40 times for protesting segregation and inequality, is a living legend who, along with countless other civil rights activists, took great risks to help integrate our transportation system and other public facilities. Thanks to them, our buses and trains and waiting rooms and rest stops are no longer segregated, but America's roads to opportunity are still not open to every community. The mission to close that gap continues to inform the work we do today in this Department. For example, we are working every day to help reconnect communities split apart by bad transportation decisions that destroyed neighborhoods and cut people off from jobs, services and opportunities. This requires us to change the way we make transportation decisions now and in the future to ensure that everyone affected by our decisions has a voice, regardless their income, race or zip code.

"You have to get in the way," Lewis told his DOT audience. "You have to make a little noise. The government should be a headlight and not a taillight in the fight for real equality."

This isn't always easy. But change is possible. Congressman Lewis told us the story of a man visiting his congressional office in 2009. That visitor was one of several who had beaten Lewis and his white seat-mate decades earlier trying to integrate a segregated bus terminal waiting room. The man apologized. In a similar evolution, the bus terminal in Montgomery, Alabama, where Lewis and his fellow riders were also beaten, now serves as a museum commemorating the Freedom Rides.

John Lewis inspires us to remember that we have come a long way but we still have a way to go, - and that we at DOT are making a difference. We must keep pushing and striving and, when necessary, we must get in the way, to open up opportunity for all of the people we serve.

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