Lewis, who was arrested in Thursday's protests, was galvanized at the altruism of the movement through his research on the internet.
"I saw this action being taken by the protesters, the conditions they were living in and the fact that they were not doing this for themselves," Lewis said, who has been retired for eight years. "They were doing this for all people who were suffering injustice. And that conviction that they had for social justice just inspired me."
Lewis later talked about his arrest, describing police action with him as "exemplary." But he questioned the role of the higher ranking officers who were not instilling a sense of calm in leading their lower level figures.
"That's why you have the white shirts," he said. "The white shirts are the ones who are supervising. What I saw down there was the white shirts doing the fighting. Who's supervising?"
Lewis added that his comments from a video about his strong support of the protests would be heavy edited, leading him to prepare a response if a certain network tried to interview him.
"My statements video was edited, and I knew that was going to happen," he said. "And the one step I was going to take to try and minimize that from happening was to refuse any interviews with Fox News. And a Fox representative did come up to me. I saw the Fox, and I said, 'You stay away from me, and you're apart of the problem."
WATCH: Video from MSNBC, which was broadcast on November 19, 2011.
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Now this is what I'm talking about when it comes to the crazies on the right -- the fire-breathing man of manufactured tears, Glenn Beck, telling people what they need to do about their church-going habits.