By RODNEY HO/ rho@ajc.com, originally filed Thursday, September 1, 2016
Rep. John Lewis of Georgia is a civil rights rock star. To prove it, he literally crowd-surfed last night on "Late Night With Stephen Colbert."
During an eight-minute interview, he talked about the recent sit-in in Congress over the lack of movement on gun control legislation. "Sometimes, you have to find a way to get in the way, to get in trouble, good trouble, necessary trouble," he said.
He was inspired to get in "good trouble" in the late 1950s after meeting Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King Jr.
"We didn't get a vote to the floor but we helped educate and inspire hundreds of thousands and millions of people around this nation," he added. "They want us to do something."
He said too many people have died. "We have to stop the killing."
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They talked about his graphic novel about his past. "It make it plain, it make it real," he said, explaining why he opted this route. They discussed the historic 1963 march from Selma to Montgomery and how he got beaten at the Edmund Pettus Bridge.
When asked about NFL player Colin Kaepernick sitting down during the National Anthem, Lewis said he has the right to protest. "This young man, this football player is acting according to the dictates of his conscience," Lewis said. "We should support him."
Colbert has had Lewis on when he was doing his Comedy Central show. He's clearly a fan boy.
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