Civil Rights Icon John Lewis Leads Children on March at Comic-Con International

Superheroes, villains and other characters are not the only ones heading to Comic-Con International. 

Civil Rights icon and Congressman John Lewis also made an appearance at the convention, speaking about his comic book, โ€œMarch.โ€

Dressed in the same clothes he wore during the 1965 march in Selma, Alabama, Lewis led dozens of kids on a march through the crowded convention center Saturday.

โ€œItโ€™s important for all our young people to know what happened or how it happened so they too can bring about change using the philosophy of non-violence,โ€ Lewis told NBC 7.

That's the message in Lewis' comic series โ€œMarchโ€ book one and book two as well, now taught in San Diego schools.

โ€œThe book is transformative, itโ€™s about social justice and my students are now firmly attached to the idea that they're going to change the world...and they will,โ€ Lewis said.

UC San Diego Professor Zeinabu Davis jumped at the chance to bring her kids to listen to Lewis...and march alongside him.

โ€œIt was representative of a little bit of what it could have felt like if we had been in many of the Civil Rights marches that have happened before,โ€ Davis said.

Lewis said he wanted to teach students about peace, love and nonviolence. He hopes they continue to march for those messages.

โ€œWe still have a distance to go...but we will get there,โ€ Lewis said.

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