TALLADEGA — “General” Larry Platt of Atlanta became something of an Internet star after his performance of the original song “Pants On The Ground” on “American Idol” went viral.

But Platt is about more than just battling idiotic fashion statements. He is a man who has dedicated most of his life to the causes of justice, equality and dignity for all. And he’s not done.

The “Pants On the Ground” phenomenon began with an actual incident in Atlanta. He spotted a young man walking down the street, pants down, underwear exposed, and with a pacifier in his mouth. A woman pushing a baby in a stroller was with him. “You have to have respect for yourself and other people,” Platt told the young man. “He just looked stupid.”

A sheriff’s deputy approached him, as Platt tells the story, and told him to leave the man alone or face arrest. “He didn’t even write him a ticket. He’s hassling me while this hoodlum is out walking around.”

Platt wrote the song shortly afterward. When his longtime companion Sally Harley found out that “American Idol” was holding auditions in Atlanta, she encouraged him to sign up. “I didn’t know about the age limit yet,” he said. The limit for performers on “Idol” is 28, and Platt is about to turn 63.

He came back on the second day behind three female competitors, only to be informed at this point that he was far beyond the show’s age limit. “Some of the media in Atlanta said that was discriminatory, so they asked me to come back on the last day, up to the 27th floor. I was the last one on. Simon (Cowell) asked me if I was really going to play a song called “Pants on the Ground,” and I said yes. When I did that spin (guest host) Mary J. Blige almost fell out. Simon said he thought it would be a hit, and that he believed he would see me again. Simon likes to see what can pull people in, he knows what’s best, and how to pick people. I love Simon.”

Platt’s performance went viral and became something of a sensation, with hundreds of thousands of downloads and CD sales. He is already planning a follow-up about people texting and talking on cell phones while driving without insurance.

Platt and Harley were visiting friends and family in Talladega Wednesday afternoon and gave a performance in The Daily Home’s break room that was, if anything, even more energetic than his “Idol” performance. After running through the hit twice, he took the time to exchange dance steps with the child and friend of a Daily Home employee.

“I’ve been here a long time,” Platt said. “I’ll be 63 soon, but I run marathons, I run the Peach Tree Road Race. I drink herbal tea.”

It was not always entirely clear that Platt would enjoy such strong health. When he was 3, he said, his family was attacked by the Ku Klux Klan, leaving him with scars that he carries to this day, including the loss of the sight in his right eye.

As he got older, he became determined to overcome, and by the time he was 16, he was able to organize a desegregation march in Savannah.

He came under the tutelage of Hosea Williams, who first gave him the nickname “General,” and worked closely with such titans of the civil rights movement as (now Congressman) John Lewis and Martin Luther King Jr. He served as a bodyguard for the latter, including during the 1963 March on Washington, where King delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech. “Thy day after that was my birthday,” Platt said.

“I’ve got a picture of myself with Dr. King and several other people, and in it, everybody’s eyes are closed. I’m the only person in that picture with my eyes open. I wanted to go to Tennessee with him in 1968, but they asked me to stay in Atlanta instead. So I wasn’t there,” he said.

Platt has, over the years, been active in the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, among others. “I want to stop people from hurting,” he said.

He was witness to plenty of other hurt, as well. Platt was present during the first attempt at a Selma to Montgomery march on March 7, 1965, and carries scars from that day as well.

“We were coming from Brown’s Chapel Church, and some wanted to wait for Dr. King, but the march went forward anyway. I was there with John Lewis and Hosea Williams. (Sheriff) Jim Clark was there on the bridge with tear gas, gas masks, billy clubs and horses waiting. There were people waiting for us. They picked people up and threw them off the bridge, they tear-gassed us, they were beating people on the head. We were being beaten and run over by horses. That was simply not called for. Not called for.”

He also has a series of scars on his leg courtesy of Bull Connor’s attack dogs.

Later, he was awarded an MLK medallion, the prestigious Trump Award, and a day in 2001 was set aside by the Atlanta City Council honoring his accomplishments.

His newest crusade, aside from getting the youth of America to pull up their pants already, involves defending those who have lost their homes to foreclosure. “People are doing crooked stuff, getting people involved with things they don’t understand,” he said. “Your land should be yours, period. You pay your taxes, you ought not to be done that way. You miss even one time, they trick you to take your land. … People that own land need to get together, go to the government, get mad. They just take your land and sell it all over again, but that’s crooked, there’s no legal justice there. The justice scale should be balanced, not have one over the other. Justice should be blind, not blinding someone else to make a fool of them. … So we pay all these taxes, but we don’t really own anything.”

He also blames the banks. “Banks are doing these crooked games and partying with people’s money. You think they will do you right, but they tax you on your money, charge you overdraft fees, give you credit cards you don’t need. They use your money till it’s gone, then they say, ‘Sorry, but try to bring us some more. Where is my interest? Bring my good money.’”

The solution, Platt said, is to “all get together, to fight with our minds and our common sense. Don’t wait. Let some of these politicians know you don’t want to wait four years to get rid of them. You hired them. They work for you. Why make their family rich and keep your family poor?” he asked. “God made a rainbow,” he concluded, “and we all need to love and respect each other. We’re just one. We can make it, live in peace and love, share, lay down our weapons. We can do it with God and love.”