What a change agent and Civil Rights Leader Congressman John Lewis was. He has been called the “conscience of Congress” and spent his life fighting systemic racism. On Jul 27th 2020, the country watched his funeral at the U.S. Capitol. As I listened to “Amazing Grace” echo through the chamber, never have the words of that song resonated more for me than for this individual.

Despite more than 40 arrests, physical attacks, and serious injuries, he remained devoted to the philosophy of nonviolence. He spent his life overcoming adversities such as:

• Organizing sit-in demonstrations at segregated lunch counters as a University student

• Participating in the Freedom Rides

• Marching across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma for voting rights

• Being beaten severely by angry mobs

• Becoming one of the Big Six Leaders of the Civil Rights Movement