Why Courage Matters: on Civil Rights


Fear did not restrain Dr. King to resist repression

Better to suffer for a good cause than live safely without one. Dr. King’s cause was the dignity of his race and the full realization of America’s founding values. He is, rightly, held up as an exemplar of moral courage. He was a believer in nonviolence who had courage of conscience, the courage to resist repression, to live his moral code. He was murdered for his willingness to act on his beliefs, a fate many of his admirers believe he anticipated and must have feared. Yet fear did not restrain him.
Source: Why Courage Matters, p. 91 Apr 1, 2004

John Lewis was as courageous as anyone could ever hope to be

In the summer of 1966, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and the Congress for Racial Equality recruited white students from northern states to help southern blacks register to vote. They chose to focus their campaign in Mississippi, a bastion of segregation, where southern bigotry was as obdurately defiant as had been the Confederate defenders. Three white kids from the North were kidnapped and murdered by Ku Klux Klan terrorists. Even the goal of integration was cast aside by some, and in its place the surer appeal of an easier pride, black separatism, rose to claim popular support. John Lewis was one of the bravest of those who stayed true to the faith. They couldn’t scare the courage out of him. They couldn’t beat it out of him, either. Writing in The Washington Post, Lewis remembered, “A young man named Jimmy Lee was shot in the stomach when he stepped in to protect his grandfather. He died from his wounds several days later. The plan to march from Selma to Montgomery was our response.
Source: Why Courage Matters, p. 96 Apr 1, 2004

  • The above quotations are from Why Courage Matters: The Way to a Braver Life, by John McCain with Mark Salter.
  • Click here for definitions & background information on Civil Rights.
  • Click here for other issues (main summary page).
  • Click here for more quotes by John McCain on Civil Rights.
Candidates and political leaders on Civil Rights:

Retired Senate as of Jan. 2015:
GA:Chambliss(R)
IA:Harkin(D)
MI:Levin(D)
MT:Baucus(D)
NE:Johanns(R)
OK:Coburn(R)
SD:Johnson(D)
WV:Rockefeller(D)

Resigned from 113th House:
AL-1:Jo Bonner(R)
FL-19:Trey Radel(R)
LA-5:Rod Alexander(R)
MA-5:Ed Markey(D)
MO-9:Jo Ann Emerson(R)
NC-12:Melvin Watt(D)
SC-1:Tim Scott(R) 		Retired House to run for Senate or Governor:
AR-4:Tom Cotton(R)
GA-1:Jack Kingston(R)
GA-10:Paul Broun(R)
GA-11:Phil Gingrey(R)
HI-1:Colleen Hanabusa(D)
IA-1:Bruce Braley(D)
LA-6:Bill Cassidy(R)
ME-2:Mike Michaud(D)
MI-14:Gary Peters(D)
MT-0:Steve Daines(R)
OK-5:James Lankford(R)
PA-13:Allyson Schwartz(D)
TX-36:Steve Stockman(R)
WV-2:Shelley Capito(R) 		Retired House as of Jan. 2015:
AL-6:Spencer Bachus(R)
AR-2:Tim Griffin(R)
CA-11:George Miller(D)
CA-25:Howard McKeon(R)
CA-33:Henry Waxman(D)
CA-45:John Campbell(R)
IA-3:Tom Latham(R)
MN-6:Michele Bachmann(R)
NC-6:Howard Coble(R)
NC-7:Mike McIntyre(D)
NJ-3:Jon Runyan(R)
NY-4:Carolyn McCarthy(D)
NY-21:Bill Owens(D)
PA-6:Jim Gerlach(R)
UT-4:Jim Matheson(D)
VA-8:Jim Moran(D)
VA-10:Frank Wolf(R)
Please consider a donation to OnTheIssues.org!
Click for details -- or send donations to:
1770 Mass Ave. #630, Cambridge MA 02140
E-mail: submit@OnTheIssues.org
(We rely on your support!)

Page last updated: Feb 26, 2019