--- title: John Lewis on the March on Washington and America Today description: John Lewis says that "something is happening in America today that is frightening." canonical: https://time.com/5785921/john-lewis-march-on-washington-reflection/ author: John Lewis article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2020-02-20T12:32:49.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-24T08:16:09.588Z article:section: History og:title: John Lewis on What’s Changed—and What Hasn’t—Since the March on Washington og:description: John Lewis remembers the 1963 March on Washington, and what came after og:url: https://time.com/5785921/john-lewis-march-on-washington-reflection/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt96c106b5b36c2cee/698a0a58e76ad2292263741d/john-lewis-march-washington.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2400 og:image:height: 1350 og:image:alt: john-lewis-march-washington og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: John Lewis on What’s Changed—and What Hasn’t—Since the March on Washington twitter:description: John Lewis remembers the 1963 March on Washington, and what came after twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt96c106b5b36c2cee/698a0a58e76ad2292263741d/john-lewis-march-washington.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # 'We Have to Redeem the Soul of America.' 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They are at time.com/newsletters and are separate from a paid subscription. by [John Lewis](https://time.com/author/john-lewis/) ## John Lewis Feb 20, 2020 12:32 PM UTC  SNCC Chairman John Lewis speaks from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., 1963 SNCC Chairman John Lewis speaks from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., 1963 Danny Lyon—Magnum Photos by [John Lewis](https://time.com/author/john-lewis/) ## John Lewis Feb 20, 2020 12:32 PM UTC On the day of the [March on Washington](https://time.com/5745584/the-march-reverend-joseph/), I was very excited about being able to speak to the crowd about civil rights. I was ready. [A. Philip Randolph](https://aflcio.org/about/history/labor-history-people/asa-philip-randolph) introduced me as “young John Lewis, national chairman, Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee.” I said to myself, “This is it. I must do my best.” I looked to my right, I looked to my left, and I looked straight ahead, and I went for it. I think often about “young John Lewis.” Today, I would tell him, “You got out there. You pushed and you pulled. You helped lead a movement to make things better for this generation and for generations yet unborn.” I come in contact with a lot of young people, a lot of young children. These kids are so smart and so gifted—if we had been that smart and that gifted, we would be much farther down the road. We have come far since there, but there is still such a distance to travel. So many of our people are suffering. When we come to a point in our nation where little children, babies, are being taken from their parents and put in cages, I don’t think history will be kind to us. [**_Step Into History: Learn how to experience the 1963 March on Washington in virtual reality_**](http://time.com/the-march) I have never witnessed anything like what we’re going through today. Not during the 1960s, in spite of everything that we came through—the arrests, the jailings, the beatings. Something is happening in America today that is frightening. What is happening is a threat to our democracy, and sometimes I fear that we are in the process of losing it. But we must never ever lose hope, we must keep the faith, keep building and working hard to create what Dr. King and what others called the “Beloved Community.” We have to redeem the soul of America. _Lewis is the U.S. Representative for Georgia’s Fifth Congressional District and a member of the 2017 TIME 100_ --- _This article is part of a_ [_special project_](https://time.com/equality) _about equality in America today. Read more about_ [The March](https://time.com/the-march/)_, TIME’s virtual reality re-creation of the 1963 March on Washington and sign up for TIME’s_ [_history newsletter_](https://cloud.newsletters.time.com/history/?source=article-equality-footer) _for updates._ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5785921/john-lewis-march-on-washington-reflection/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5785921/john-lewis-march-on-washington-reflection/"},"headline":"'We Have to Redeem the Soul of America.' 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