Georgia Democratic Rep. John Lewis lamented to The Daily Caller Tuesday that young protesters are not as disciplined or committed to the way of non-violence as those in his younger days were.
Lewis, known for his 1960’s civil rights activism, explained, “Before we went on any protest, whether it was sit-ins or the freedom rides or any march, we prepared ourselves and we were disciplined. We were committed to the way of peace—the way of non-violence—the way of love—the way of life as the way of living.”
The Baltimore riots on Saturday and Monday resulted in destroyed property, injured police officers, injured journalists, injured protesters, and arrests. Business owners and government officials are still assessing the damage that was done. “We never even dreamed or even considered attacking a local police officer,” Lewis said.
The Georgia Democrat was particularly impressed with Toya Graham, the Baltimore mother who saw her 16-year old son wearing a mask and hoodie and gathered with agitators. Graham whacked her son on his head as she pulled him away.
“It was gratifying yesterday or this morning to see the mother chasing down her son and taking the hood off his head and I would have loved to have heard the words she was using,” he said. “But he was embarrassed, because his friends saw, no doubt, his mother saying, ‘What are you doing? What are you doing?’”
Graham became an instant celebrity following the broadcast of her disciplining her son on various national news shows. She later explained she pulled her son off the streets that day because, she did not want him to “be a Freddie Gray.”