A note from guest editor, Congressman John Lewis

I feel deeply honored to have the opportunity to serve as a guest editor of this wonderful publication. I have often said that without the media, the Civil Rights Movement would have been like a bird without wings. Today more than ever, we need a diverse, vibrant media and Creative Loafing serves an important role in our community.

Some of the people who have contributed to this issue I have known for a long time. Others I have known not so long but I have come to enjoy working very closely with them. A few I have never had the opportunity to meet. But we have all come together to discuss the philosophy that has guided me nearly my entire life: nonviolence.

I believe that we must respect the dignity and worth of every human being. I believe that every single one of us has a contribution to make to our society. And I believe that it must be the mission of every person, regardless of race, religion, gender, or sexual orientation, to leave this little piece of real estate we call Earth a more just and peaceful place.

Our society faces many struggles. No one person can tackle all of them. And no one person can tackle any of them on his or her own. Yet each of us can do something. That is why I decided to write March. It is my hope that this graphic novel trilogy will tell to young people and those not so young the story of my life in the Civil Rights Movement and why I chose the path of nonviolence. I hope it will show you that, no matter where you come from or where you went to school, you can make a contribution.

People need to be speaking up and speaking out about the injustices we see every day. They need to be organizing and working together to solve the complicated problems facing our society. But in order for nonviolent action to be successful, it requires discipline. There are specific ways in which a nonviolent campaign must be conducted for it to achieve its objectives. In these graphic novels, with my collaborators Andrew Aydin and Nate Powell, we have worked very hard to detail the tactics used during the movement and the discipline behind them.

This has been an unbelievable journey. I never thought I would do things like write a graphic novel or go to Comic-Con. But none of us can know what the future has in store for us, and we must follow what I like to call the Spirit of History. We have to be creative and find new ways to, as Gandhi said, be the change we seek in the world.

Keep the Faith,

John Lewis