An African American man who participated in a 1960 sit-in that desegregated a Woolworth's lunch counter in North Carolina said Saturday that Georgia Democratic Rep. John Lewis was "wrong" for boycotting the opening of the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum because of President Donald Trump's attendance.
"He was wrong not to go there because he paid a tremendous price to be able to go there and say I was a part of this," Clarence Henderson told Ana Cabrera on CNN. "Of course, his choice is his.
"But had it been me, and I was invited, I would have went there and been with the president," Henderson said. "Even took a picture with the president.
"If I had any order against him, I would have spoken to him in regards to that.
"That's how we do in a society that is a civil society," Henderson said. "We sit down and we discuss things and see if we can come to an agreement."
In February 1960, Henderson joined a sit-in over a segregated Woolworth's lunch counter in Greensboro, N.C., that became a seminal moment in the Civil Rights Movement.
Lewis, who helped organize the 1963 March on Washington, said he would not attend the opening of the Mississippi museum — saying that Trump's presence would be an "insult."
Mississippi Rep. Bennie Thompson, another Democrat with deep civil rights ties, also skipped the opening because of Trump.
In addition, state NAACP officials held a separate event to "pay homage to those who have dedicated their lives to the civil rights of Mississippians, without the presence of President Donald Trump," the organization said.
"This museum has nothing to do with the president, except that he is the president," Henderson told Cabrera.
"John Lewis, as well as others, went through all we went through to be able to come to the table and be integrated into the American system, the American society.
"It's unfortunate that he would not go there and represent what he has stood for in the past.
"It doesn't mean that he agrees with the president," Henderson added. "It just simply means that they have come together in a one common bond saying that we need to unite."
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