“Good Trouble Lives On” Comes to Asheville

Indivisible Asheville/WNC and NC Poor People’s Campaign are joining the national John Lewis Day of Action to move civil and voting rights to the forefront of policy discussions and action.

The late Rep. John Lewis of Georgia was known for his willingness to cause “good trouble,” as he called it, from his civil rights activism as a young man through his time in Congress. His “good trouble” always involved protecting the rights of regular Americans, not just the super-wealthy and huge corporations.

In that spirit, Indivisible Asheville/WNC and the Western Circle of the NC Poor People’s Campaign will host “Good Trouble Lives On” on Thursday, July 17, 2025, from 6 to 7:30 p.m. at Pack Square Park in Asheville, as part of a national day of action to respond to the Trump administration’s attacks on civil and human rights.

To learn more, and to register for “Good Trouble Lives On,” go to Facebook.com/events/596686106458373.

Voting Rights the Focus

The July 17 event will focus on voting rights, by calling on Congress to pass the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act. This act, first introduced in 2021, and again in 2022, 2023, and 2025, would restore and strengthen parts of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, most notably its requirement for states and jurisdictions with a history of voting rights violations to seek federal preclearance, i.e., approval before being allowed to make certain changes to their voting laws.

Those provisions were gutted by the Supreme Court in a 5-4 decision handed down in 2013, following which numerous states and jurisdictions quickly passed laws making it more difficult, or even impossible, for Blacks, Hispanics, young people, and the elderly—groups that historically tend to vote Democratic—to register, vote, or have their votes counted.

Within the first few years of the SCOTUS action, states purged millions of voters, mostly Black, and enacted voter ID requirements and laws that demanded perfect matches of signatures (such as using or not using a middle initial)—even that drivers licenses match a woman’s birth certificate name, which might have been changed 40 years before upon her marriage.

In NC, the Republican-led legislature tried limiting or eliminating polling places in college towns, and, in particular, ending Sunday early voting so as to eliminate the wildly successful Souls to the Polls programs that brought tens of thousands of Black churchgoers to vote after Sunday services. That law was struck down by the Fourth Circuit US Court of Appeals on the basis that the law was designed to “target African Americans with almost surgical precision.”

Taking Back Voters’ Constitutional Rights

“We would rather choose who represents us than have those representatives choose their voters and leave so many of us behind,” said Robin Lively Summers, president of Indivisible Asheville/WNC. “It’s time to demand better.”

The event will feature music, chanting, speakers, and a march to demand fair elections and other important policy demands, including the restoration of cuts to essential programs such as the National Weather Service and air traffic control, Medicaid, and SNAP benefits.

About the Organizers

Visit Indivisible Asheville/WNC, a nonprofit, non-partisan grassroots organization dedicated to protecting democracy at www.IndivisibleAvl.org

Visit the Western NC Poor People’s Campaign, part of the National Poor People’s Campaign focused on uniting people to challenge the evils of systemic racism, poverty, the economy, and ecological devastation at www.PPP-NC.org.

To learn more about the nationwide “Good Trouble Lives On” day of action, visit goodtroubleliveson.org.