I shook John Lewis' hand today at the Atlanta March.

[japple]

I was in the crowd of 60,000 people waiting for the march to begin. We were not close enough to hear the speakers, but we started hearing cheers and clapping, then people began saying that John Lewis was coming by. I was standing near a walkway holding a sign--a collage I made from the gorgeous work of Shepard Fairey. I had written the names of people from my area who were unable to make it to Atlanta to participate, so they could be with us in spirit. With much gratitude to the great artist, Shepard Fairey, here is the sign.

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Just as John Lewis and his entourage came near, the crowd parted and he saw the sign. He came over to me and shook my hand, told me it was a great sign and thanked me for coming today. It was the most exciting thing that has ever happened to me. For this 66 year old ex hippie, to shake John Lewis' hand was a thrill I will never forget. The march got underway and our group of 6 had a wonderful experience. I don't think Atlanta has seen anything like this for quite awhile. It was a day to remember.

X-posting to the Georgia group.

[Lint Head]

1. He looks like he has large strong hands. I love Lewis!

[sheshe2]

2. Love it!

[Wounded Bear]

3. Cool story, thanks for sharing...good sign, too...

We were arguing about maybe Georgia going blue. Perhaps its closer than we thought.

[ismnotwasm]

4. That is a great sign!

So cool you got to shake his hand

[duhneece]

5. Now, please don't wash your hand until I can make it from the canyons outside of La Luz, NM to...

Just teasing, but for this will-be-66 yr old, it would also be one of the moments in my life I would never forget. I marched in Las Cruces NM. It feels like we are continuing to get more, and More AND MORE fired up. Being so close to the border, we are planning some sort of program/symposium/forum on Undocumented Immigrants where we will start by inviting church folks to find out resources and get their church asking if their churches are sanctuaries, what they would feel and do if they realized they were sitting next to an undocumented immigrants, etc. Maybe we'll elect our first Democrat in over 22 years.

[jodymarie aimee]

6. 65 here and Obama used my eliptical machine at my gym in 2009

wowsa...we are good !!

[Cha]

7. John Lewis is my hero!

[UTUSN]

8. R#23 & K for, wow/congrats! n/t

[lucca18]

9. That is wonderful!

I love the sign!
Great job!

[Sunny05]

10. Congratulations! Great collage, too!

[MarvinGardens]

11. That is awesome!

Congrats Japple, and thanks for marching!

I was there with my wife and kids. By the time we arrived, we could not get close enough to the stage to hear what was being said, but we sure heard the cheering. It was an amazing and positive experience. Never participated in anything that huge before. Atlanta police estimated 60,000 people, per WSB-TV. When we reached hill tops, I would look ahead and behind and see people as far as I could see in both directions.

[japple]

12. It was a beautiful sea of happy, positive people. I am still pumped up from

this event. We couldn't get anywhere near the stage either, but it was a great experience and I was happy to be there. Hope you and your family had as much fun as we did. It was awesome to see old folks, families with little children and even babies, people with dogs, so many college-aged men and women, teens. I wish I could have gotten pictures of some of those great signs--so much creativity and humor. It was a blessed respite from the gut-wrenching, nail biting of the past couple of months.

[Gothmog]

13. Congressman John Lewis is a national treasure

Congrats