Obama is not the only person who has made history this year...
MSNBC:
Philadelphia, MISS.(July 3, 2009) -- In the 1960s, when he was a child, James Young used to hide behind the couch in his family home as armed Ku Klux Klan thugs prowled through town terrorizing blacks after nightfall. Decades later, Young was elected the first black mayor, by a multi-racial majority in a much different time and place. His swearing in was this morning. "It's just unbelievable that it could happen to me," he said. "Who would have thought that I would be the mayor of Philadelphia, Mississippi?"
Although Philadelphia has changed dramatically since the '60s, much of the world still remembers it as the site of one of the worst moments in the history of the U.S. civil rights movement. In June, 1964, three young civil rights activists-- Andrew Goodman, James Chaney and Michael Schwerner-- were murdered on a dark and lonely road by Klansmen, after the three had come to town as part of the Freedom Summer movement, an effort to register blacks to vote. (See archival video from iCue here.)
The killings threw a harsh national spotlight on Philadelphia and led to an intense FBI search for the bodies and the killers, which was dramatized in the 1988 movie, "Mississippi Burning."
Philadelphia is intent on revising its image and washing away the stain. "I've always believed in this town, this community and know that there was an underlying decency," said Jim Prince, the publisher of the Neshoba Democrat, the local newspaper. "I think you've seen that sort of decency raise up here in electing James Young."
"The community has emerged together to make things better for everybody in Philadelphia," said Nettie Cox, a long-time resident and political activist who is African-American.
Mayor Young, who is also a minister at an area church, agrees that times have changed for the better and that his election is an important symbol of that. "It's a heart change. Has every heart changed? No. But the majority are moving in the right direction."
With his election in a town that is 55 percent white, Young insists he will govern fairly and represent everyone here. The memory of the slain civil rights workers weighs heavy on him. "We can't forget what they gave up and sacrificed, their families. It's a constant reminder."
I remember the news announcing three young Civil Rights workers missing. Now to be fair during that time many people were missing or killed but they were all black at the time. The US Government got involved because it was two white young men. It was a full out Government press to fine these three kids. They were getting people registered to vote. Yes the in a short time they found the bodies and the KKK took the head lines. Earlier I visited the South and saw a figure hanging from a tree and it was a man. Fear of the KKK was what was going on in the South.
ReplyDeleteYes this is truly change and I'm glad more people are accepting equality. Look for the haters to continue but we will over come and I'm glad I lived to see it.