Bill and Hill in Obamaland
In Selma, Obama Appeals to Black Voters
Barack Obama reached out to the civil rights generation Sunday on the anniversary of the Bloody Sunday march, saying the protesters helped pave the way for his campaign to become the first black president. He also urged blacks to take more personal responsibility.
“I stand on the shoulders of giants,” the Democratic senator from Illinois told hundreds at a breakfast to commemorate the 42nd anniversary of the clash between voting rights demonstrators and police.
He was just 3 when police with billy clubs bloodied blacks who tried to cross the bridge out of Selma on the way to Montgomery, the capital. On his first visit to Selma, Obama was coming face-to-face with Democratic rival Hillary Rodham Clinton as the candidates seek support from the party’s loyal black constituency.
Obama and Clinton, joined by the former president, planned to speak at the same time from pulpits three blocks apart. They also were to appear together at a rally before making the ceremonial walk to the Edmund Pettus Bridge to honor the Selma-to-Montgomery marches.
In a call to action perhaps politically unfeasible for his white rivals to make, Obama said the current generation needs to honor the civil rights movement by taking responsibility for rejecting violence; cleaning up “40-ounce bottles” and other trash that litters urban neighborhoods; and voting in elections.