Elwin Wilson, a former member of the Ku Klux Klan who famously apologized for his past racism, has died at age 76. Fifty years ago John Lewis, who would later go on to become a representative for Georgia in Congress, was beaten by Wilson and his friends at a South Carolina bus station. In a 2009 interview with CNN’s Don Lemon, Wilson apologized for his actions, and Lewis publicly forgave him. “My daddy always told me that a fool never changes his mind, and a smart man changes his mind,” Wilson said at the time. “And that’s what I’ve done, and I’m not ashamed of it. I feel like I’m apologizing to the world right now.”
