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Dr. Joseph E. Lowery laughs with the audience while speaking at the end of his 94th birthday celebration\u0022\u003E\n\n\n\n \u003Cdiv class=\u0022figure__expand absolute block bottom-0 right-0 w-8 h-8 bg-white text-gray-700\u0022\u003E\n \u003Cspan class=\u0022sr-only\u0022\u003EClick to expand Image\u003C\/span\u003E\n \n\n\n\u003Cdiv class=\u0022icon fill-current w-full inline-block\u0022\u003E\n \u003Csvg viewBox=\u00220 0 20 20\u0022 fill=\u0022currentColor\u0022 role=\u0022img\u0022 focusable=\u0022false\u0022 aria-hidden=\u0022true\u0022\u003E\n \u003Cuse xlink:href=\u0022\/themes\/custom\/hrw_design\/dist\/app-drupal\/assets\/spritemap.svg?cacheBuster=250315#sprite-expand\u0022 \/\u003E\n \u003C\/svg\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E\n \u003C\/div\u003E\n \u003C\/a\u003E\n \u003C\/div\u003E\n \u003Cfigcaption class=\u0022figure__info text-left font-serif text-xs md:text-sm lg:text-base mx-auto text-gray-700 mt-1\u0022\u003E\n \u003Cspan class=\u0022figure__caption\u0022\u003EThe Rev. Dr. Joseph E. Lowery laughs with the audience while speaking at the end of his 94th birthday celebration\n\u003C\/span\u003E\n \u003Cspan class=\u0022figure__credit\u0022\u003E\u00a9 2015 Curtis Compton\/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP.\u003C\/span\u003E\n \u003C\/figcaption\u003E\n \u003C\/figure\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E\n\n \u003C\/div\u003E\n\n\n\n\n\u003C\/div\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003ETwo weeks after Rev. Joseph Lowery was laid to rest, the human rights community is still reflecting on the lessons left behind by the man nicknamed the \u0022Dean\u0022 of the Civil Rights Movement in America. Rev. Lowery, who died in March at the age of 98, worked closely with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and made significant contributions to the fight for social justice over the course of several decades. His legendary activism ranged from co-founding the Southern Christian Leadership Conference with Dr. King in the 1950s to protesting injustices in the criminal justice system in the 1970s, and even in his retirement advocating against capital punishment.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cblockquote class=\u0022twitter-tweet\u0022\u003E\n\t\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022 lang=\u0022en\u0022 xml:lang=\u0022en\u0022\u003ECoretta King once said the Rev. Joseph Lowery had \u201cled more marches and been in the trenches more than anyone since Martin.\u201d Now Lowery, too, has led his last march.\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Cbr\u003E\n\t\tRemembering Joseph Lowery \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/t.co\/FDTH3SgqRL\u0022\u003Ehttps:\/\/t.co\/FDTH3SgqRL\u003C\/a\u003E \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/t.co\/uJvyV2S6cR\u0022\u003Epic.twitter.com\/uJvyV2S6cR\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\n\t\u2014 AJC (@ajc) \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/twitter.com\/ajc\/status\/1243859135134867457?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\u0022\u003EMarch 28, 2020\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/blockquote\u003E\n\u003Cscript async src=\u0022https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\u0022 charset=\u0022utf-8\u0022\u003E\u003C\/script\u003E\u003Cblockquote class=\u0022twitter-tweet\u0022\u003E\n\t\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022 lang=\u0022en\u0022 xml:lang=\u0022en\u0022\u003EReverend \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/JosephLowery?src=hash\u0026amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\u0022\u003E#JosephLowery\u003C\/a\u003E speaking at the funeral of King Center founder, Coretta Scott King.\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Cbr\u003E\n\t\tWe will miss you, sir. \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/t.co\/sZUz50OLNx\u0022\u003Epic.twitter.com\/sZUz50OLNx\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\n\t\u2014 The King Center (@TheKingCenter) \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/twitter.com\/TheKingCenter\/status\/1243747519802327042?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\u0022\u003EMarch 28, 2020\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/blockquote\u003E\n\u003Cscript async src=\u0022https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\u0022 charset=\u0022utf-8\u0022\u003E\u003C\/script\u003E\u003Cp\u003ENotably, Rev. Lowery stood up to powerful elected officials when their policies infringed on the rights of the vulnerable. In a push for voting rights for Black Americans, for example, he bravely delivered demands to George Wallace, Alabama\u2019s segregationist governor, after the famous 1965 \u201cBloody Sunday\u201d march from Selma to Montgomery. Wallace ordered state troopers to beat the protestors, and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 was passed soon after.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003ERev. Lowery\u2019s family buried him in a\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.ajc.com\/news\/joseph-lowery-funeral-procession\/3dV4THJGNDaOQiPyAFXqBM\/\u0022\u003Esmall private funeral\u003C\/a\u003E, due to Georgia\u2019s restrictions on gatherings during the Covid-19 crisis. Nicole Austin-Hillery, executive director of the US Program at Human Rights Watch, was among the civil rights leaders around the world who wouldn\u2019t let Rev. Lowery\u2019s legacy be a casualty of the pandemic. In an\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/progressive.org\/op-eds\/joseph-lowery-example-of-compassion-hillery-200408\/\u0022\u003Eop-ed\u003C\/a\u003E for The Progressive, she reminds elected officials, 2020 candidates, activists and all of us what we can learn from Rev. Lowery\u2019s example:\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp style=\u0022margin-left:.5in;\u0022\u003EOf all the amazing accolades listed in his obituary, I was most struck in reading that he once told an interviewer his theory on why he lived longer than most of the other great civil rights leaders. He said he felt God was keeping him alive so he could address the injustices of the criminal justice system, particularly toward poor black men.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp style=\u0022margin-left:.5in;\u0022\u003EI am too young to have known and worked with Lowery, but I did once hear him deliver one of his fiery oratories on race and justice at Howard University. As a civil and human rights lawyer who heads the U.S. Program at Human Rights Watch, I\u2019ve devoted my career to fighting the same injustices Lowery did throughout his life.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp style=\u0022margin-left:.5in;\u0022\u003EAs the nation lives through the COVID-19 pandemic, we are all experiencing what it is like to feel vulnerable. But perhaps the most vulnerable of all are those in our jails and prisons. The virus is affecting the lives of those in detention as well as those who care for them.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp style=\u0022margin-left:.5in;\u0022\u003EOverpopulated U.S. jails and prisons are incubators for the spread of disease \u2014 a problem that existed long before the World Health Organization declared the coronavirus a global pandemic.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp style=\u0022margin-left:.5in;\u0022\u003EOur research at Human Rights Watch underscores that a disproportionate number of those in detention are black \u2014 the very group of people Lowery felt called to defend and protect.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp style=\u0022margin-left:.5in;\u0022\u003EIf swift action is not taken to lessen the prison and jail population, the virus will spread more rapidly, and the prison system will face deadly consequences. While this alarm bell has not been heard by all, some states have been releasing varying numbers of detained individuals.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp style=\u0022margin-left:.5in;\u0022\u003EOn March 27, the same day that Lowery died at his home in Atlanta, hundreds of former federal prosecutors, judges, and justice department lawyers sent a letter to President Donald Trump asking the government to release more people from federal custody to help curb the spread of the virus.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp style=\u0022margin-left:.5in;\u0022\u003EFront-line civil and human rights leaders have always been our conscience, as Lowery\u2019s life reminds us.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp style=\u0022margin-left:.5in;\u0022\u003EIn 1979, Lowery, in defiance of a threat from the Ku Klux Klan, marched for leniency for a black man with a mental health condition who was accused of raping two white women in Decatur, Alabama. He recalled later that bullets whizzed inches above his head during the march. That\u2019s the kind of courage that is needed to get us through the present moment.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp style=\u0022margin-left:.5in;\u0022\u003EWhile the pandemic has overshadowed news of Lowery\u2019s death, we would do well to heed his example. Let\u2019s honor his life\u2019s work by taking action to save those in our jails and prisons.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EFurther Reading and Viewing:\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cem\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003ERead Austin-Hillery\u0027s full piece on Rev. Lowery\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/progressive.org\/op-eds\/joseph-lowery-example-of-compassion-hillery-200408\/\u0022\u003Ein The Progressive.\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003ELearn more about Rev. Lowery\u0027s life and thoughts on leadership by checking out the\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.visionaryproject.org\/loweryjoseph\/\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003EOral History Archive\u003C\/a\u003E of the the National Visionary Leadership Project.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003ERead more on\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.hrw.org\/news\/2020\/04\/03\/covid-19-shouldnt-be-death-sentence-people-us-prisons\u0022\u003Eon HRW.org\u003C\/a\u003E about the United States\u0027 urgent need for policies that protect people behind bars from Covid-19.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E\n\n \n\n \n \n\n \n \n\u003C\/div\u003E\n","settings":null},{"command":"insert","method":"prepend","selector":".js-view-dom-id-blog_live_feed__blog_body_block__341060__en","data":"","settings":null}]