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Civil Rights Icon Urges Kentucky Students To Keep Faith In Their Communities

Civil rights leader and long-time Georgia congressman John Lewis told a crowd of Kentucky students Wednesday not to give up on progress.

Lewis, who organized sit-ins at segregated lunch counters in Nashville in the 1960s, said the sacrifices made by activists still resonate today.

"If some tells me nothing has changed, I feel like saying 'Come and walk in my shoes. I'll show you change,'" he said to applause.

Lewis went on to urge the audience at Kentucky State University to remember the priorities of peace and justice that drove Dr. Martin Luther King and countless others to fight for their rights.

"We have witnessed what I like to call a non-violent revolution, a revolution of values, a revolution of ideas. Our country is a better country and, as a people, we are a better people," Lewis said.

The congressman was elected in 1986 and has served in the U.S. House of Representatives since then.

Josh James fell in love with college radio at Western Kentucky University's student station, New Rock 92 (now Revolution 91.7). After working as a DJ and program director, he knew he wanted to come home to Lexington and try his hand in public radio.