12-year-old honors “hero” by reading John Lewis’ favorite poem.
Tybre Faw was 10 years old when he met his hero John Lewis after traveling seven hours to Selma, Alabama, with his two grandmothers for the commemoration of the Bloody Sunday march two years ago.
Faw got to hug Lewis and joined him on an anniversary march.
And on Thursday, the 12-year-old got to honor the late civil rights leader with a poem at Lewis’ private funeral in Atlanta.
“John Lewis was my hero and my friend,” Faw said before reading Lewis’ “favorite poem” – “Invictus.”
Written in 1875 by English poet William Ernest Henley, “Invictus” is Latin for “unconquered.” The piece has been invoked by world leaders and referenced in literature throughout history and is famous for its final lines, “I am the master of my fate/ I am the captain of my soul.”
Nelson Mandela, the anti-apartheid activist and first Black president of South Africa, used to recite the poem to other inmates while a political prisoner at Robben Island Prison.
And as a boy, Lewis reportedly used to recite the poem around the family home in Troy, Alabama.
“Let’s honor him by getting in good trouble,” Faw said after reading the poem, beginning to cry as he walked away from the podium.
Faw first learned about Lewis after taking an interest in civil rights history from reading library books and participating in a school play on Martin Luther King Jr. in the second grade.
His emotional meeting with Lewis in Selma in March 2018 was captured on video and shared by CNN, boosting the fourth grade activist’s profile within days.
In the video, Lewis can be heard asking Faw where he is from, to which he replied “Tennessee.” Lewis, an alumnus of Fisk University in Nashville, informed Tybre he attended school there.
After spending a moment embracing Faw and posing for pictures, Lewis invited him to join the annual commemorative march across the bridge, where Lewis and others were beaten in 1965 by Alabama state troopers who had ordered them to disperse. The historic demonstration was among the Selma to Montgomery civil rights marches.
“It showed me that it doesn’t matter what your age is, how old you are, you can still be active in standing up for what you’re supposed to be for,” Faw said at the time.
Faw’s attendance at the Selma event was by no means his first brush with activism. With his two grandmothers, he attended the Women’s March in Washington, D.C., in 2017, as well as the Women’s March in Johnson City, Tennessee, in 2018. He has marched in Martin Luther King Jr. Day demonstrations in recent years and has visited civil rights and history museums in Washington and Atlanta, among other places.
When Faw was 9, he called Lewis’ office to try to set up a meeting with the congressman, which didn’t materialize. It was after Faw befriended members of Lewis’ security detail while waiting outside Brown Chapel AME Church in Selma that he was given the OK to approach Lewis as he exited the church.
Lewis also invited Faw to visit him in Washington and join him on the House floor.
At the time of his meeting with Lewis, Faw said he planned to run for president in 2044 – the year he turns 35. Coincidentally, “44” was also his jersey number on his Jr. Toppers football team when he was 10.