Thursday, February 5, 2009

The Amazing, Transforming Power of Love

Segregationist who beat John Lewis asks forgiveness
2/5/2009

Associated Press - By Ben Evans
WASHINGTON — Elwin Wilson was an unabashed racist, the sort who once hung a black doll from a noose outside his home. John Lewis was a young civil rights leader bent on changing laws, if not hearts and minds, even if it cost him his life.
They faced each other at a South Carolina bus station during a protest in 1961. Wilson joined a white gang that jeered Lewis, attacked him and left him bloodied on the ground.
Forty-eight years later, the men met again — this time so Wilson could apologize to Lewis and express regret for his hatred. Lewis, now a congressman from Atlanta, greeted his former tormentor at his Capitol Hill office.
“I just told him that I was sorry,” Wilson, 72, said in a telephone interview Wednesday as he traveled home to Rock Hill, S.C. For years, he said, he tried to block the incident out of his mind “and couldn’t do it.”
Lewis said Wilson is the first person involved in the dozens of attacks against him during the civil rights era to step forward and apologize. When they met Tuesday, Lewis offered forgiveness without hesitation.
“I was very moved,” said Lewis. “He was very, very sincere, and I think it takes a lot of raw courage to be willing to come forward the way he did. … I think it will lead to a great deal of healing.”
Wilson said he had felt an urge to voice his remorse for years. He talked about his past activities a few weeks ago with a friend, and the friend asked him where he thought he might go if he died.
“I said probably hell,” Wilson said. “He said, ‘Well, you don’t have to.’”
Wilson’s apology was first reported by The (Rock Hill, S.C.) Herald. After reading an article about local black civil rights leaders reacting to President Barack Obama’s inauguration, he and another former segregationist called the paper saying they wanted to apologize.
The paper aired their comments and documented an emotional meeting with the local activists at a former whites-only lunch counter in downtown Rock Hill, where Wilson had antagonized demonstrators during a 1961 sit-in.
After meeting with the local activists, Wilson realized that Lewis must have been the young black man he had attacked at the bus station that same year, when a bus carrying two Freedom Riders rolled into town. The riders were Lewis, who is black, and the late Albert Bigelow, who was white. Neither pressed charges over the assault.
Wilson didn’t know that Lewis, who was 21 at the time, had since become one of the most influential Democrats in Congress.
“I never dreamed that a man that I had assaulted, that he would ever be a congressman and that I’d ever see him again,” Wilson said. “He and everybody up there in his office … they were just good people, treated you right and all.”
Lewis and Wilson said they hoped Wilson’s quest for redemption will inspire others who took part in civil rights-era violence to come forward and help heal wounds from the struggle over integration.
“I said if just one person comes forward and gets the hate out of their heart, it’s all worth it,” Wilson said. “But I hope there will be a bunch of people. Life’s short and we all go to the same place when we die.”

9 comments:

HWHL said...

This is an amazing story.... that someone can hold THAT much hatred, for that long, but yet the transforming seed of love slowly grew in his heart and (over time) blossomed and grew.

I love this.
On the news there was a picture of the two of them hugging.

Gberger said...

Thank you for sharing this; I hadn't heard about it. It's beautiful, and I hope it lights the way for more repentance and forgiveness, for whatever the offense. Let freedom ring for all hearts.
Now, dear Lord, will You help me grow to be as forgiving as that dear man is...

HWHL said...

I agree Karen. John Lewis is a special man. He has a very big heart.

Boquinha said...

Wow. Beautiful story. Thank you for sharing it. Truly beautiful.

Cliff said...

Those stories are very heart warming and further proof that the Lord never gives up on you, no matter what you have done.

If you have wronged someone, leave your gift at the altar, go to them and seek forgiveness.(paraphrase, Cliff)

Busy Bee Suz said...

WOW. this is a great story...so nice to hear something good come from something so bad and ugly. Racism is horrid. It is ugly. It is embarrassing for me...that there is so much of it in our country.

Unknown said...

This totally made my day!

Unknown said...

I always wonder how forgiving I would be in these situations. I hope my heart would be open to love and forgiveness for such a horrific crime.

Thanks for sharing.

Unknown said...

Great story!

So much to apologize for, so much to forgive.