Walking With the Wind

Walking With the Wind

“When I care about something, I am prepared to take the long hard road. . . . That's what faith is all about.'' – John Lewis

Just as beauty is sometimes in the eye of the beholder, history is largely in the eye of the historian. I learned that simple lesson as a junior history major at Syracuse University.

I am continually reminded of this lesson while reading various memoirs or historical biographies, or on visits to museums and historic sites. The history we learned in textbooks is the polished version.

With Black History Month coming to a close, I want to highly recommend a straightforward, yet passionate book that was an eye-opener for me with regards to the Civil Rights movement, “Walking With the Wind,” by Georgia Congressman John Lewis and co-written by Michael D’Orso. Lewis headed up the Student Nonviolet Coordinating Committee (SNCC), and he takes you on a meditative journey through his life, including stories about his interaction – both good and bad -- with the movement and its leaders, and his personal decisions, including his life in the 1970’s and his run for Congress in 1986.

I met Congressman Lewis in 1998, and he stands out as one of the most memorable people I have ever met. In his office there is the famous picture of marchers being trampled by local and state police on the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama. John Lewis, in his raincoat, is one of the marchers being trampled and had his skull fractured that day. The thing that was most memorable about Lewis to me was that he is not the showy overly-charismatic figure that D.C. tends to churn out. He was down to earth and real candid. The book reflects that.