Philip Sherwell, Telegraph (UK)
- Forty-five years to the day after Martin Luther King delivered his “I have a dream” speech, Barack Obama will become the first black man picked by a major party to run for president. Having picked Senator Joe Biden as his running mate, he is due to accept the Democratic nomination as their candidate in front of 75,000 supporters in Denver on Thursday.
It is a coincidence of dates not lost on Dr Gene Young, who – aged 12 – was among more than 200,000 civil rights supporters who heard Dr King spell out his hope for a future where people of all colours would live together harmoniously as equals.
“Obama’s nomination is a dream,” says the retired university professor. “I remember the protests, the police dogs and the fire hoses. I remember those who died in the fight to register black people to vote. I remember the church burnings. And now we could have a black president of the United States. I’m not just happy – I’m thrilled. I’m ecstatic.”
