I have a great dislike of lunch counters. Not because I fear rejection or arrest. No one will beat me for sitting down and expecting to be served. But I grew-up at a time when this was true and deep down I tell myself I just prefer sitting at table. I never fail to appreciate that in 2020 without thinking or batting an eye I have freedom of choice. Some say there is no such thing as a free lunch… sometimes lunch has been bought for us and I am grateful for it.
I too, watched the funeral and tried to relate to some of the things that happened in 1965 when I was only 10. I remember wondering why police beat people. Why everyone could not do what they desired if it was legal. I did not know some of the legal illegal things (especially int the South) to keep black people from living as the rest of the country.
John Lewis saw what was right. He did that. We all must do what is right.
Your father was evidently both smart and brave.
Did you see John Lewis’s essay “Together, You Can Redeem the Soul of Our Nation”? He planned for it to be published on the day of his funeral. It’s very inspiring.