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But one day I heard Dr. King speak on the radio. 1955. I was 15. It was an African American station called WRMA. Based in Montgomery. Seemed like he was speaking directly to me. Saying, John Robert, you can do something. You can make a contribution. And so I followed everything I could about Martin Luther King Jr. and the bus boycott. The words of Dr. King and the action of Rosa Parks stirred something up. That you cannot be at home with yourself when you see something that you know is not right. You have to do something. You have to say something. It gave me a sense of hope.

I met Rosa Parks when I was 17. The next year I met Dr. King. Changed my life. Inspired me to get involved in the movement. And James Lawson, a young minister, who started teaching us students in Nashville the way of peace, the way of love — the philosophy and the discipline of nonviolence. Preparing us to go and sit in on a lunch counter, stand in at a theater, preparing us to be leaders, to be activists. And I knew that I was on the path.

The moment I was first placed under arrest at a sit-in, I felt free. I felt liberated. I felt like I crossed over. That this is not just for this moment or this day or next week or next year. But a way of life. There’s something I call the spirit of history: Sometimes you’re tracked down by a force, and you cannot turn away. So I never thought about saying I’m tired, I’m ready to drop out. You have to continue to pick ’em up and put ’em down. Because there’s so much work to be done. And you never know how much time you have. And you have to use your time wisely.

You have to believe, somehow and some way, in the possibility that we will reconcile to each other as humans. So you study. You meditate. And you forgive. On the Freedom Ride in Rock Hill, South Carolina, members of the Klan beat us and left us in a pool of blood. In 2009, one of the guys that beat us came to this office. He was in his 70s. He came with his son. He said, “Mr. Lewis, I’m one of the people that beat you and your seatmate. Will you forgive me? I want to apologize.” His son started crying first. Then he started crying. They hugged me. I hugged them back. And the three of us cried together. That is the power of the way of love.

So even if someone is beating you, knocking you down, even if you’re down on the ground trying to protect your head, you try to maintain eye contact. Let the person who’s trying to hurt you see your humanity.