Tens of thousands of people are participating in coordinated protests and rallies at over 1,500 locations across all 50 U.S. states today in an organized national day of action titled “Good Trouble Lives On.” The demonstrations mark the fifth anniversary of the death of civil rights leader and former Georgia congressman John Lewis and are focused on opposing policies enacted under the Trump administration.

The events, organized by a coalition of civil rights and advocacy groups, include marches, rallies, candlelight vigils, food drives, voter registration events, direct action trainings, and teach-ins. The protests are being held in a range of locations from major cities to suburban communities and rural towns, reflecting a widespread mobilization effort.

Chicago is hosting the flagship event, with large-scale demonstrations also taking place in Atlanta, St. Louis, Annapolis, and Oakland. Organizers estimate tens of thousands are joining across the country, although the turnout is expected to be smaller than the “No Kings” protest in June, which drew several million people in what was one of the largest single days of protest in U.S. history.

The “Good Trouble” campaign is named after John Lewis’s well-known call for “good trouble, necessary trouble,” a phrase he often used to encourage peaceful activism and civil disobedience in pursuit of justice. Lewis was severely beaten by police in the 1965 Selma to Montgomery march on the Edmund Pettus Bridge and spent decades in Congress championing voting rights and equality.

Today’s coordinated protests are aimed at denouncing a range of actions associated with the Trump administration. Organizers cite the rollback of civil rights protections, crackdowns on protest rights, restrictions on voting access, the targeting of minority and immigrant communities, and cuts to federal support programs such as Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).

Daryl Jones, co-leader of the Transformative Justice Coalition, said during a press conference, “One of the things that John Lewis would always say is that if you see something that’s wrong, you have an obligation to speak up, to say something, to do something. That’s what July 17 is about – seeing things across this nation, seeing things that are being impacted, that are just not right. We’ve got to stand up and say something.”

More than a dozen major civil rights organizations have endorsed the effort. According to event materials, the aim is not only to honor Lewis’s legacy but also to revive national attention to voter rights legislation and social justice issues ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.