John Lewis . . .
I remember May 2, 1999. That’s the day I graduated from Johnson C. Smith University. All of us excited graduates piled into the Independence Arena, now the Bojangles Arena, early that morning to receive our degrees from our beloved HBCU. Some of us were still tipsy from the night before, some of us were nervous about tripping as we walked across the stage to accept that degree. And some of us were just happy that we made it through. I was excited because four years earlier, I had no idea if my Dad would’ve been in the audience to see my walk across that stage. He had a heart transplant my freshman year. And the family kept the seriousness of his condition from me until that summer. Fast forward four years later and he was in the audience with a big smile on his face, holding my mother’s hand. That day, our commencement speaker was Representative John Lewis. Civil rights icon, an American hero who risked his life and health so that America would live up to the promise of all men bei