He wrote that when he was young, like other young people he "was searching for a way out, or some might say a way in" until he heard Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s voice on the radio. Reflecting on King's calls to not tolerate injustice, Lewis said, "When you see something that is not right, you must say something."
"You must do something," he wrote. "Democracy is not a state. It is an act, and each generation must do its part to help build what we called the Beloved Community, a nation and world society at peace with itself."
He also said, "Voting and participating in the democratic process are key," adding that it is "the most powerful nonviolent change agent you have in a democratic society" and for everyone to "use it."