Obama source of pride for black Americans
“If Fannie Lou Hamer was alive today, she would be proud to see that not only are African Americans able to be seated at the convention, but they will make history in nominating the first African American to the United States presidency,” said Thompson, who will chair the delegation.
Obama’s acceptance speech Thursday falls on a day of anniversaries for the civil rights movement.
It was the day the Rev. Martin Luther King delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington in 1963. It is also the anniversary of the 1955 killing of 14-year-old Emmett Till in Mississippi. The racially motivated slaying helped trigger the civil rights movement.
Republicans have carried Mississippi the last seven presidential elections.
But Sanders said Obama has a chance to win if the party succeeds in getting blacks to the polls.
Clarion Ledger
8/25/8
