John Lewis Looked Back on His Life’s Work for Equality: “We Are Different People, and That’s a Good Thing About the Changes That Have Occurred. The Same Way That People Have Changed in Selma and Montgomery, and Other Parts of the South, People Can Change in America. We Must Never Give Up on Anyone. We Must Have That Belief That We All Can Live Like Brothers and Sisters as Citizens, Not Just of America, but as Citizens of the World.”
On October 20, 2016, the legendary Civil Rights leader and Congressman from Georgia, John Lewis was campaigning in New Hampshire for Hillary Clinton, but this interview is more about his assessment of how well America has done and will do in fulfilling its promise of equality and justice for all.
John Lewis was born a sharecropper’s son in Alabama in 1940. He became a central figure in the Civil Rights Movement, as a “Freedom Rider” and, as the chairman of SNCC-Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, he helped organize the March on Washington where Martin Luther King gave his famous “I Have a Dream” speech. He has served as a congressman since 1987, where he has held several leadership positions.
In the interview, John Lewis looks back on a lifetime of work for social justice and acknowledges that the United States has made a great deal of progress, but he is concerned about attempts to divide America into groups and to bar people from entering the country based on religion or country of origin.
John Lewis relives “Bloody Sunday”, March 7, 1965, when he led 600 marchers across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama, as part of a peaceful protest for voting rights. When they had crossed the bridge, the demonstrators were attacked by mounted Alabama State Troopers. John Lewis suffered a fractured skull during the attack. He relates that since that time he has received apologies from many white people involved with this horrific event, even then Alabama Governor George Wallace.
In the conclusion of the interview, John Lewis compares and contrasts the Civil Rights movement and the need for social justice today.
