Rep. John Lewis Leads Civil Rights March Through San Diego Comic-Con

Georgia Congressman John Lewis led around 1000 people in a march through San Diego’s Comic-Con Saturday in a celebration of his graphic novel according to the Associated Press.

Lewis, a long-time civil rights leader who marched alongside Martin Luther King Jr. during the Civil Rights Movement, penned a graphic novel about his experience with co-author Andrew Aydin and illustrator Nate Powell. They gave a presentation about their three book series “March,” at Comic-Con.

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“Dr. King inspired me to get in trouble: what I call good trouble, necessary trouble,” Lewis told the audience. “Now more than ever before, we all need to get in trouble. When you see something that is not right, not fair, not just, you have a moral obligation, a mission and a mandate to stand up, to speak up, to speak out and get in trouble.”

The three novels are about Lewis’ childhood and eventual involvement in the Civil Rights Movement and his activism. Lewis was the chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee from 1963 to 1966 and helped plan the March on Washington with King and other civil rights leaders.

Lewis recalled a comic book he had read about King in 1957 to Aydin, inspiring the “March” project. Aydin worked on Lewis’ campaign and eventually did a graduate thesis on the King comic book, titled “The Montgomery Story.”

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The three novels on Lewis’ life are non-fiction and fact-checked so they can be used a historical guide.The first book came out in 2013. The third volume came out in August 2016 and on Friday received Comic-Con’s Eisner Award for best reality-based work. Saturday the three authors received Comic-Con’s Inkpot Award for “contributions to the worlds of comics, science fiction/fantasy, film, television, animation, and fandom services.”

“I saw something that I was not pleased with. I was not at home with myself, and I wanted to do something about it. But I didn’t know what to do,” said Lewis Saturday. “And I heard the voice, the words of Martin Luther King, Jr., and it seemed like saying, ‘John Robert Lewis, you too can do something.’”