ROCK HILL, S.C.,None — For most of Elwin Wilson's life, something was bothering him. Something deep inside. He had taken part in something evil, and he wanted to make it right.
On Wednesday, he will go on the "Oprah Winfrey Show" and talk about how he made it right, and how others can, too.
"Today, I don't hate anybody," the 75-year-old said from his home in Rock Hill. That wasn't true during the 1960s, when the civil rights movement swept the nation.
Wilson was a member of the Ku Klux Klan. In 1961, he joined an angry crowd protesting in downtown Rock Hill when the nine black college students known as the Friendship Nine held a sit-in at an all-white lunch counter. A black and white picture shows men yelling, some waving rebel flags, and Wilson standing with them.
It wasn't long after that, in May 1961, when Wilson got word about the freedom riders coming to Rock Hill.
"I heard about the trouble they caused in Greensboro, so I was down there waiting for them," Wilson said.
He was at a bus stop near Black Street and Oakland Avenue when the bus arrived, carrying a young black man named John Lewis.
Lewis tried to walk into a whites-only waiting room at the bus stop and Wilson stopped him.
"I said, 'Where you going?' He said, 'In here.' I said, 'No, you're not.' That's when I grabbed him and I beat him," Wilson said.
For decades, Wilson didn't even know who the victim was. It started to bother him. With help from local newspaper the Herald in Rock Hill and others in town, Wilson got a phone call in 2009 from Washington, D.C. The person on the other end was Rep. John Lewis from Georgia, the man Wilson had attacked almost a half-century earlier.
"I wanted to apologize to him. I'm not trying to be Martin Luther King. I just want to clear myself," he said.
The apology made national news, and since then, Wilson and Lewis have appeared together several times on national news outlets and television shows.
Wilson has also received several national honors and recognition for his change of heart. He said he didn't do this for any of that, though.
"I got closer to God, and he helped me all through this," he said. "I've had so many people tell me that it must've been hard to come out and apologize and do what I'm doing, but it's not hard. Not hard at all."
He's kept many letters that people have written him since he first came out and apologized to Lewis. He also has an old sign nailed to the wall of his garage that says "Colored." It used to hang in that downtown waiting area at the bus stop and reminds him of why it was so important to change.
"I put it there to look at it sometimes, and I do look at it," he said.
Wilson said he was glad to tell the story once again when Oprah's show called last month. He flew to Chicago last week for the taping of the show.
"She treated me like royalty, though I didn't get to talk to her much except when we were on stage," Wilson said.
He said he never thought his actions would draw so much attention. He only wanted to right an old wrong. To receive forgiveness from a unknown man, who he attacked for no reason. A man he now counts as a friend.
Lewis and Wilson will be on "Oprah" Wednesday at 4 p.m. on Channel 9.
Previous Stories: May 4, 2011: May Marks 50 Years Since Freedom Rides In South
WSOC
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/cmg/LH3JSJEF3VBLRJLJQESEAG34AM.png)
