James Meredith: in 1962 he forced President JFK to confront bigotry (photos)

FLASHBACK to December 19 1962: A dead raccoon was placed atop the car of James Meredith. His effigy was hanged. On 1 October, 1962 James Meredith enrolled as the first African American student at the segregated University of Mississippi in Oxford. White students rioted. President JF Kennedy called up the National Guard. Two people died. James Meredith was 28. He had forced the President to act. But it was not enough. In 1966, he marched to encourage blacks to vote. On the march he was hit by a sniper’s bullet. He says he remains at war with the system not the people. Barack Obama, he says, might not be white, but he was voted in by the same people who voted for all previous Presidents. Nothing has changed, he says. But he wants it to. Vote now. Vote often…

 

Anorak

Posted: 2nd, November 2012 | In: Flashback | Comment (1)