Run

This is, necessarily, a different and more painful series than March. For starters, we're now living in a world without John Lewis. Then there's the story arc: March ended on a triumphant note, the passing of the Voting Rights Act, huzzah. Unfortunately, the VRA did not immediately vanquish intolerance and injustice in the USA.

Run chronicles the slog ahead: new ways to intimidate and disenfranchise Black voters and candidates; the conviction and sentencing of white terrorists for murdering – oops, my mistake: I meant the continued murder of Blacks with total impunity; and the growing schism in the SNCC, between the nonviolents and those espousing aggression, leading to Lewis's ouster from his (til then) lifelong path. Book One covers 1965-1966, and I'm worried that at some point they might get to 1968, which was not a good year.

Two panels halfway through serve as a sobering reminder of how far we've come:

The number of polling places was reduced, making it almost impossible for poor voters–without access to cars–to cast a ballot. And many of the polling places were moved to new locations.