Urging Persistence on Racial Gains, Obama Recalls Sacrifice in Selma |
Urging Persistence on Racial Gains, Obama Recalls Sacrifice in Selma
The New York Times
2015-03-06
Peter Baker, Chief White House Correspondent
Julie Hirschfeld Davis, White House Correspondent
COLUMBIA, S.C. — For the nation’s first African-American president, it was a week of two documents that told the story of a country still grappling with its own history.
The first was a draft speech that President Obama was marking up with his distinctive left-hand scrawl to deliver in Selma, Ala., on Saturday to celebrate a half-century of civil rights gains. The second was a report he received accusing the police in Ferguson, Mo., of systematically discriminating against African-Americans.
More than once, Mr. Obama has credited the courage of protesters in Selma who were confronted by club-wielding state troopers 50 years ago for clearing the way for his own barrier-breaking election as president. But the path from Selma to the Oval Office has also led to Ferguson and back to Selma, a path littered with hope and progress and disappointment and setback…
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