Dr. Edwin Lewinson Presente

Above left, Ed Lewinson speaks at a Peoples Organization for Progress support rally in Newark before the 78-year-old activist was sent to a federal prison in Ohio, based on his arrest for protesting the School of the Americas (U.S. School of Torture) at Ft. Benning, Ga. On the right, Rev. Lucius Walker, and people's attorney Lynne Stewart, along with others, pay tribute to Ed (center) at an IAC send-off meeting on April 1, 2008.

Dr. Edwin Lewinson – 
Jan 19, 1930 – April 10, 2012  ¡Presente!
 
It is with great sadness that we announce that peace and justice activist Ed Lewinson, passed away on April 10 at his home in South Orange, NJ. Sara Flounders who visited Ed at St Barnabus Hospital several days before he died said that Ed was alert, interested in the struggle and following the news.

“I read him leaflets on May Day plans of 2012 and we talked about the hundreds of national protests for Trayvon Martin and discussed his coming in for a meeting as soon as he was home.”
 
A Memorial gathering for Dr. Edwin Lewinson will be held this Saturday, April 14th from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. at Ethical Culture Society, 516 Prospect Street, Maplewood, NJ  (at Prospect and Parker).
 
All are welcome – bring stories, poems, memories, songs, photos. A potluck supper will follow the program. Please bring a main dish, salad or desert if possible. 

MEMORIES OF ED LEWINSON

Ed Lewinson contributed decades of political activity on the front lines of the struggle. Although Ed was blind from birth he was always determined to participate fully in political struggles and in all aspects of life. He was a political activist for over 60 years and was arrested numerous times for sit-ins and civil disobedience actions and participated in hundreds of picket lines, demonstrations and rallies.

Ed traveled to Washington DC countless times to participate in anti-racist and anti-war demonstrations. He was active in political struggles in Newark with Peoples Organization for Progress and with NJ Peace Action. He was an active volunteer with the International Action Center from our founding 20 years ago. An event linking war as wealth and profits for a few and misery and poverty for millions drew Ed’s first involvement with the IAC.

At the age of 78 Ed Lewinson served a 90 day prison sentence in Federal prison in Elkton Ohio based on his arrest protesting the School of the Americas (U.S. School of Torture) at Ft Benning GA. Ed is one of a dozen people who were arrested at the School of the Americas protest for crossing the line on to the base. It was Ed’s fourth arrest at the Ft Benning protests. At a packed Tribute to Ed Lewinson held at the IAC just before he left for prison in Spring of 2008, Rev Lucius Walker, Lynne Stewart, Ramsey Clark, Larry Holmes and many others came to praise his many years of committed action.

Dr Ed Lewinson received a Doctorate in History from Columbia University and was Professor Emeritus of Seton Hall University where he was a taught for many years.

Ed Lewinson’s own experiences combines decades of the peoples’ history of struggle for change. He was inspired to become an activist early in life. He was born and raised in Detroit and attended Northern High School, the only school in the area that offered a Braille class. Northern also was predominantly Black, and Lewinson's first lessons in civil rights came from listening to the stories of his classmates. In 1949, at age 19, Ed participated with Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), pioneering civil rights organization, in the sit-ins and struggles to segregate the Greyhound Bus Terminal in Washington DC. At the time there were separate waiting rooms and Black people had to move to the back of the bus in order to travel further south. In early 1960s Ed participated in sit-ins to desegregate restaurants along the Route 40 Baltimore – Washington corridor. In Brooklyn he participated in actions to desegregate housing and he was part of the earliest struggles of 1199 to organize hospital workers

Ed participated with the International Action Center in the mass civil disobedience actions to stop the execution of Mumia Abu Jamal and was arrested twice – once in Philadelphia at the Liberty Bell and once in Washington DC in struggles to stop the execution of Mumia. He also participated in many picket lines and rallies for other political prisoners.

During the 12 years of organized opposition to the U.S. starvation sanctions on Iraq, Ed participated in countless demonstrations and protests and made several difficult trips to Iraq to take desperately needed medical supplies with IAC delegations to challenge the sanctions. He also made several trips to Cuba to break the blockade with Pastors for Peace and IAC. Ed also traveled to the U.S. sanctioned and blocked DPRK - North Korea.

Ed always refused to define himself as handicapped. He defined himself as a human being who happens to be blind. He was determined to challenge all forms of discrimination and to stay politically active on many issues and struggles because as Ed always said: “Social change only happens if people get organized.”
 
If you have participated with Ed in international delegations or in hundreds of New York or New Jersey picket lines against racism and war, if you have been arrested with Ed Lewinson or worked on mailings and phone banking with him, then please attend his memorial this Saturday evening in Maplewood N.J. or send a message for his memorial.

We extend special thanks to Terri Suess for her great assistance to Ed and for making many of the arrangements for Ed Lewinson’s Memorial.

We have lost a friend and freedom fighter who contributed in so many ways throughout his life to making the world a better place.
 
Friends of Ed Lewinson, in announcing his memorial, have asked that donations be made in Memory of Dr. Edwin Lewinson to some of the organizations that Ed contributed to, or to an organization of your choice. (Organizations listed below are in alphabetical order, not in order of preference.)   

International Action Center
55 W. 17th St., Suite 5C
New York, NY 10011
212-633-6646
www.iacenter.org
 
Lighthouse International
111 E. 59th St.
New York, NY 10022-1202
800-829-0500
www.Lighthouseinternational.org

National Federation of the Blind of NJ
c/o Joseph Ruffalo, Pres.
245 Spruce St.
Bloomfield, NJ  07003
973-743-0075
Nfbnj@yahoo.com

New Jersey Peace Action
673 Bloomfield Ave.
Bloomfield, NJ 07003
973-259-1126
www.njpeaceaction.org

New York Public Library
476 Fifth Avenue,
New York, NY 10018
212-930-0653
www.nypl.org

People's Organization for Progress
P.O. Box 22505
Newark, NJ 07101-2505
973-801-0001
www.njpop.org

The Jewish Guild for the Blind
15 W. 65th St.
New York, NY 10023
800-248-4422
www.jgb.org
 
The New Jersey State Library / Talking Book and Braille Center (NJSL/TBBC)
P.O. Box 501
Trenton, NJ 08625-0501
www.njsltbbc.org
  
The Seeing Eye, Inc.
P.O. Box 375
Morristown, NJ 07963
973-539-4425
www.seeingeye.org