Congressman John Lewis and his Policy Advisor and co-author Andrew Aydin visited the juvenile unit at the DC Jail to discuss their graphic novel March: Book One, and speak about non-violence, grief, struggle, and hope.

Group photo

The Free Minds team with Andrew Aydin and Congressman John Lewis at the DC Jail

Congressman Lewis (D-GA) has been a U.S. Representative for Georgia since 1987. He was a prominent figure in the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s; he was one of the original Freedom Riders, served as chairperson of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee from 1963-1966, and was instrumental in the struggle for voting rights and desegregation. Congressman Lewis is the only surviving “Bix Six” leader from the Civil Rights Movement, and the only living speaker from the 1963 March on Washington.

With co-author Andrew Aydin, he wrote March: Book One (the first in a trilogy), a graphic novel recounting his lifelong struggle for civil and human rights. March: Book One won the Coretta Scott King Author Honor and the Robert F. Kennedy Book Award (Special Recognition), and was named one of YALSA’s Outstanding Books for the College Bound.

The 16- and 17-year-olds in the Book Club at the DC Jail read March: Book One in preparation for Lewis and Aydin’s visit, and composed thoughtful questions for the co-authors.

For two hours, Lewis and Aydin shared their stories. Lewis told of growing up the son of share-croppers in rural Alabama, and of being beaten, arrested, and jailed over 40 times for participating in nonviolent protests. Aydin spoke about being a lonely young teen, angry at the violent father who abandoned him, and turning to comic books as a refuge. Lewis described the violent confrontation on the Edmund Pettus Bridge that would come to be known as “Bloody Sunday.”

“Did you ever think you were going to die?” asked one of the Book Club members.

“I thought I was going to die there that day on the bridge,” Lewis said. “I thought I saw death.”

Another young man asked how Lewis dealt with the assassination of his friend Martin Luther King, without wanting to get revenge. “That’s not what he would have wanted,” Lewis said. “He used to tell me, ‘Love everybody. Just love the hell out of everybody!’”

When asked what advice Martin Luther King might give to the young men in the Book Club if he were alive, Lewis sat silently for a moment. Then he said, “Get the best education you can find. When you go home, find something that is so dear, rich and necessary to follow your dream. And when you get knocked down, you get up. You must never give up.”

At the end of the session, members of the Book Club rose to perform this poem they had written together for Congressman Lewis.

Free Minds March

Sacrificing myself and my family for rights and education
Fighting through these ropes of segregation
Killing them with kindness and no irritation
To make an impact on this great nation
We would take the word “nigger”*
Instead of pulling a trigger
We were beaten and broken down to little pieces
To pave the way for our little nephews and nieces
We wanted nonviolence, but they gave us hatred
We gave it to the world, sat back and were patient
Rosa Parks wouldn’t give up her seat
Because she wasn’t going to let racism repeat
So we sat at lunch counters asking to be served
We got spit on and yelled at, but didn’t get disturbed
Congressman Lewis …
If you and Dr. Martin Luther King didn’t have a dream
We wouldn’t have equal rights in 2016!

Aydin and Lewis with the poem

Andrew Aydin and Congressman Lewis with a framed copy of “Free Minds March” and the Free Minds literary journal, The Untold Story of the Real Me: Young Voices from Prison

*The Book Club members agreed that this word is a slur. Because John Lewis and his fellow civil rights leaders endured this word over and over during the Civil Rights Movement, and because Lewis recounts this in his book, the young men felt strongly about including it in their poem.

Free Minds Poet Ambassador and Book Club graduate Juan, who was once charged and incarcerated as an adult, also attended this historic event—his first time returning to the DC Jail since he was a teenager.

Juan spoke about the value of having authors visit the juvenile unit at the DC Jail, and what it meant to him to meet Congressman Lewis and Andrew Aydin: “Meeting a living legend like Congressman John Lewis and having him speak to the Book Club means so much and gives me a sense of self-worth. I appreciate knowing that there are people out there in the world who really see young men like myself as more than just criminals. Reading and writing have been really important to me in my journey, and I’m proud to go back to the jail where I once was incarcerated, and show the younger guys there that they can be successful.”

After Lewis left, one of the teenagers in the Book Club described the event as “life-changing.”

Executive Director Tara Libert said the event was “one of the highest moments in my life. It was an incredible joy and honor to watch history come alive for the teenagers who connected immediately and deeply with Congressman Lewis, and understood his struggles. The energy in the room was palpable as the message of nonviolence was so strong and resonated so deeply with all of us. I was struck by how easily our Book Club members could relate to Congressman Lewis, and how moved they were to be in the presence of a giant of history, without whom our present would probably be very different.”

This event was covered in The Washington Post, Yahoo News, and on ABC7/WJLA.

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