We are pleased to be with you here today at Eastern High School. We have a wonderful guest speaker. Many times, leaders have a very uncommon vision and uncommon commitment to excellence, convictions. I think we will hear all of that this morning. We are in for a very special treat. This program, the students and leaders program, is a wonderful opportunity to bring leaders back to the classroom to show young people the values of public service, the importance of leadership, and to give people an opportunity to become more involved in government and more aware of the issues that face our society. Comcast,ur partner at it is one of the very special ways we are able to do that every day. Cablees our audiences on a chance to see their government firsthand, whether it is from the floor of the house of representatives, the senate, or special debates about public policy. It is a wonderful way, and a gift to the cable industry, to see how our Government Works and how we can all be better citizens. Without any further ado, i would ,ike to introduce steve scully who will introduce our student leader and our speaker. Steve good morning. My name is steve scully and i would like to thank Eastern High School for allowing us to do this in conjunction with comcast. You are in for a unique opportunity to hear the story of a fascinating nearly two decades, grew up in alabama, and wrote a bestselling b in alabad wrote a bestselling book. I am pleased to introduce some going somebody who we may cover on cspan sometime down the road, timothy wilson, student leader. His ambition is to someday follow john lewis in the house of representatives. We will save this tape. If he is ever elected, we will show it when he comes back and take some calls on our program. You will hear a compelling story and learn a lot. Experience youn will forever remember. Timothy wilson, we are glad to have you. Timothy thank you for that warm introduction. I am timothy wilson. Easta senior here at ern. Congressmanelcoming lewis this morning. Thank you for those kind words of introduction. Let me say i am delighted, very happy, and very pleased to be here this morning. Let me say good morning. Good morning. I too want to thank cspan and it comcast for making this possible to be here at Eastern High School with each of you and your principal mr. Shepherd. Notme start by saying i did grow up in a big city like washington, new york or atlanta. Or los angeles or chicago. I grew up on a farm 50 miles from montgomery, near a little place called troy in southeast alabama. My father was a sharecropper, attentive farmer. A tenant farmer. Father savedur, my 300 and bought 110 acres of land. My 88yearold mother is still living on this land. Ofthis farm, there is a lot corn, peanuts, cows, and chickens. Mya young kid, it was responsibility to care for the chickens. I fell in love with raising chickens like no one else. Do you know anything about raising chickens . Let me tell you what i had to do as a young boy growing up in alabama in the 40s. Taking fresh eggs, mark them with a pencil, place them under the setting hen, and wait for them to hatch. I know some of you students are going to say, why did you mark those eggs with a pencil . From time to time, another hen could get on the same nest, and there would be more eggs. It would be to tell fresh eggs from eggs already under the setting hen. And giveake the chicks them to another hen, or put them in a box with a lantern to raise them on their own. Fooling and cheating on these setting hints. It was not the right thing to do. It was not the moral thing to do. It was not the most loving thing to do. It was not the most nonviolent thing to do. Save never quite able to to buy from this year and roebuck store the sears and roebuck store. Catalog, some people call it the ordering book, but i just kept cheating on these setting pins hens. I wanted to be a minister. From time to time, we would get all of the chickens together in the chicken house, the chicken yard, like you are gathered here, and the chickens, my brothers and sisters and cousins would make up the congregation. Some of these chickens would bow their heads, some would shake their heads. They would never quite say amen. But i am convinced some of these chickens i preached to tended to listen to me much better than some of my colleagues listen to me today in the congress. Some of these chickens were a little more productive. At least they produce eggs. When i was visiting the little town of troy, 10 miles from home, visiting montgomery, about teske away, visiting tuskegee, i saw signs that said colored men, womte women, colored en. Bitterild, i tasted the fruits of segregation and i did not like it. When i was seven years old, i heard Martin Luther king junior on the radio. I listen to the words of Martin Luther king and the words inspire me. I followed the drama of the montgomery bus boycott. I wanted to find a way to get involved in the Civil Rights Movement. 1956, at the age of 16, with some of my brothers and sisters and first cousin, we went to the library in troy, trying to get library cards, trying to check books out. And we were told by the library and that the library was for whites only and not for coloreds. The958, i went back to library in troy for a book signing. Hundreds of white and black citizens showed up and they gave me a library card. It says something about the progress we have made in america. Two of Martin Luther king to what Martin Luther king called an interracial society. How do you get involved, you may ask . When i finished high school in 1957 at the age of 17, i wanted to attend school. It is now known as troy State University. Application, had my transcript sent to the school. I never heard a word. I wrote a letter to Martin Luther king, junior and told him i needed his help. I did not tell my mother, my father, any of my sisters or brothers. Dr. King wrote me back and sent me a Greyhound Bus ticket, invited me to come to montgomery to meet with him. I will never forget it. On a saturday morning, september, 1957, my father drove me to the Greyhound Bus station. They gave me a 100 bill. They gave me a footlocker. I put everything i owned except those chickens in my footlocker. Dr. King heard from one of his friends, who was a of 1958 i am 18 years old. I father drove me to the Greyhound Bus nation on a saturday morning. I boarded the bus and drove to montgomery. Takento montgomery to the First Baptist church, pastored by pastor abernathy. I walked through the door and saw Martin Luther king junior and dr. King said, are you the boy from troy . Are you john lewis . I spoke up and said again quote i am John Robert Lewis i am John Robert Lewis. I continued to study in nashville and it was in the city of nashville as a student that many of us started attending nonviolence workshops, studying the role of civil disobedience, studying the great religions of the world. A group of black and White College students started sitting in at segregated lunch counters. We would sit there in an orderly, nonviolent fashion waiting to be served, doing our homework and someone would come up and put a lighted cigarette out in our hair or down our backs, spit on us, pull us off the lunch counter stools, beat us. We did not strike back because we accepted nonviolence as a astic not as a tactic but a way of life. My grandparents and my great grandparents said to us over and over as children do not get in trouble, but in nashville i got in trouble. It was good trouble. It was necessarily necessary trouble to make our country a better place. We believe in the constitution, the bill of rights, america, so ,e wanted to change america bring down those signs colored men, white men, colored women, white women. I first came to washington in 1961, 20 years old. I had all of my hair and i was a few pounds lighter. Seven whites and six blocks to the unitedsion of States Supreme Court prohibiting discrimination in places of public transportation. If you left washington dc and it traveled in virginia through north carolina, south carolina, mississippi, whites had to sit middle and front of the bus, blocks at the back of the bus. White waiting, colored wedding, waiting,en colored white women, black colored women. An angry mob attacked us. Unconscious at a Greyhound Bus station in montgomery, alabama, but we did not give up. We did not give out. In 1960 threeter i became the head of the student Nonviolence Committee, the National Chair and moved to atlanta. As theee years i served chair of that organization coordinating sit ins and freedom rides and efforts for Voter Registration all across the American South. 40 years ago,3, at the age of 23 i was invited to come to washington again along with Martin Luther king jr. And others to meet president kennedy in the oval office of the white house. During that meeting someone spoke up and is said to president kennedy, mr. President , we want to have a march on washington. We went out and mobilized to the nation and organized people from all over to come to washington 1963, thousands of americans came to washington to hear Martin Luther king jr. Essay again quote i have a dream say i have a dream. Was asked to speak also i saw a sea of humanity. We came back to the american georgia,ck to alabama, mississippi. There was so much optimism. 18 days after the march on 15,ington on september 1963, there was a terrible bombing of a church in birmingham, alabama, the 16th church. Aptist it was a very sad time and a dark hour for the Civil Rights Movement. We went all across the south to try and register people to vote. In the state of mississippi, they had a black voting age 16,000ion where only blacks were registered to vote. One county between selma and montgomery was more than 80 africanamerican but there was not a single registered africanamerican voter in the county. In selma, you had to pay a poll tax. Alabama,nstitution of lawyers and doctors were told that they could not read well enough. A black man with a phd degree flung to one of their tests. On another occasion, and man was asked to give a bar of soap. The student Nonviolence Committee organized is mississippi summer project where more than 1000 students, lawyers, doctors came to work in the freedom school. 21, 1964 three young men , two whites and one black went out to investigate the burning of a black church. These three young men were arrested, taken to jail, and later that you same sunday night were taken out, beaten, shot, and killed. We did not give up. We marched from selma to montgomery, something called bloody sunday where we were beaten. Because of what happened in there was a sense of righteous indignation. President johnson spoke to a joint session of congress and introduced the Voting Rights act. Congress responded, past that act. Millions of people of color are registered and voting and we have many black elected officials. I want to close by telling one last story. When i was growing up outside of 50 miles from monk armory, i had an aunt montgomery. I had an aunt. She lived in a shotgun house. Do know what a shotgun house is . Youd you dont know because you grew up in urban washington. My aunt lived in a shotgun house. I was born in a shotgun house. It did not have a green, manicured lawn. It had a dirt yard. , we could count the stars. When it rained, she would get a pail or bucket and catch the rainwater. From time to time she would walk out into the woods and take branches from a tree and make a broom and she would sweep her dirt yard very clean, sometimes two and three times a week, but especially on friday and saturday because she wanted her dirt yard to look good during the weekend. Dish a shotgun house is an old house with a 10 a shotgun house is in old house with it 10 roof where you could oz a rooftball with a tin where you could bounce a basketball at the front door and it would bounce at the back door out the back door. The rain started beating on the 10 roof of this little tin roof of this little shotgun house. She got all us Children Together and told us to hold hands. The wind continued to blow, the lightning continued to flash. House,corner of this defend the corner appeared to be lifted from the foundation. She had us run to that corner to hold down the house with our little bodies. We never left the house. As students, as leaders of the 21st century, you must never give out. You must never lose faith. You must stay with the house. We all live in the same house, the one house, one people, one family. It does not matter whether we are white, black, native, hispanic, we all live in the same house. Our forefathers and foremothers country andthe different ships but we are all in the same boat now. Hang in there. You will lead the world to help make america better, help make our world better and create a more peaceful world. It is better to love than to hate. Leaders of can as the future to help make our world, our society a little better. Way, walk with the wind and to let the spirit of Eastern High School into the spirit of history the your guide. They could very much. Thank you very much. [applause] we have time for some questions. Good morning. I am a senior. Is what arefor you some of the most important factors do you think that helped you to prepare for the early stages of your political career . Rep. Lewis when i was growing up and when i was in school, i was very, very poor in rural alabama. We could not afford a subscription to the newspaper, but my father rent father had a subscription and when he was finished reading his newspaper, we would read his newspaper but my grandfather had a subscription and when he was finished reading the paper he would we would read the paper. And part ofrd, red my responsibility was to care and part of read my responsibility was to care for chickens. I was deeply inspired by Martin Luther king jr. He taught me how to stand up, how to act, and how to speak out. Speak up and speak out. Good morning. Actionthe affirmative that took place here in washington dc, what is congress doing to change that around the u. S. . Rep. Lewis many members of congress participated in that effort. It was a case in the Supreme Court coming from the university of michigan. Many of us in the congress on both sides of the aisle leaved believe thative affirmative action is still necessary, the participation and inclusion of people who have been left out because of race or gender. We are waiting on the decision of the united States Supreme Court and we are hopeful that we will have a decision by the end of next month. Based on the decision of the united States Supreme Court will tell or imply what the congress may or may not do. Good morning. I am a junior here at Eastern High School. You areion is i know very big on civil rights so how do feel about that segregation scandal in your own state . Rep. Lewis it made me very sad. In 2003, in the state of georgia or in any place in america, but in my home state of georgia that we have segregated prom. You have a one integrated prom and then come back and have a segregated one. It doesnt make sense. We have to learn to live together as dr. Luther king brothers and sisters. We have to learn to live here in america before we tell the world we have to learn to live together. We are one people, one family. Good morning. My name is kevin and i am a senior here. Fungus men, i understand you have known congressman, i understand you have known dr. Martin luther king. How has he inspired you to be the man you are today . Rep. Lewis i did know dr. King. I got to know him very well. He was a wonderful human being. Just to speak with him, to talk with him. He inspired me. He became my hero. Friend, likeerful a big brother. Later we became colleagues in the struggle for civil rights. I dont know where i would be today if it werent for Martin Luther king jr. He had the capacity to inspire people, to tell people to have raw courage but not to be afraid. If it had not been for Martin Luther king jr. I would not be in congress, i would not be where i am today. Morning. I am a senior here. My question is as the son of a sharecropper, how did you feel awarded the re medal . Rep. Lewis when i was awarded naacp, i felt the good but i did not accept the award for myself but for the countless individuals who participated in the sit ins, who went on the freedom ride, for the americans who did not move the line in selma, in places in mississippi day in and day out trying to get the right to vote. Deceiving moved by that wonderful honor from the naacp. Morning, congressman. My name is maurice brown. I am a junior. Do you feel that affirmative action is the most effective way to promote multiculturalism in post secondary schools and do you believe such a system should be used in our world . Rep. Lewis i believe it is a necessary tool, a necessary instrument. It is part of a process to bring about this greater sense of community, to bring about what dr. King called and what i continued to call again quote a beloved a beloved community, to end a gap. We can have diversity, but at the same time we need to move closer to a truly integrated society. Here at home in america and around the world. We should not put people down because they come from different backgrounds or different of ares or because different racial or religious group. We are all in the same family, the family of humankind. I think affirmative action we can make it work in america and if america can be used as a model for the rest of the world, then we should do it. Good mor