Kerry's participation in voter registration in Mississippi

[quaker bill]

Kerry at the debate: Joe Lieberman and I shared the experience of registering voters in Mississippi...

A campaign flier, titled "A Message from John Kerry," began: "Ever since I worked as a young volunteer in John Kennedy's presidential campaign, I have been deeply committed to participation in politics and political issues . . . Back then, I joined the struggle for voting rights in the South."

But Kerry's involvement with the JFK campaign of 1960 was minimal. Today, he acknowledges he may only have participated in a single literature drop in Concord, N.H., while boarding at St. Paul's School.

Moreover, his role in the struggle to register black voters in Mississippi was confined to the Yale campus in New Haven, Conn. Kerry's accounts over the years of his involvement have sometimes left the impression -- and resulted in press reports -- that the young Yalie was actually down South, with the freedom riders. He wasn't.

"I remember we saw the buses off and helped raise money for the buses and were supportive of it, but I did not personally go down there on a freedom ride," Kerry said. Not long thereafter, he did visit the South, he said, "to see what was going on, which was an eye-opener for me. I had never seen a sign that said, `No colored, whites only.' "

http://www.boston.com/globe/nation/packages/kerry/061903.shtml

Joe Lieberman deserves credit, he went there. Kerry has again misrepresented his involvement here.

[Terwilliger]

1. quakerbill

I try not to be a spelling corrector, but it's Mississippi :hi:

Moreover, his role in the struggle to register black voters in Mississippi was confined to the Yale campus in New Haven, Conn. Kerry's accounts over the years of his involvement have sometimes left the impression -- and resulted in press reports -- that the young Yalie was actually down South, with the freedom riders. He wasn't.

OUCH!!

[Sensitivity]

2. I have to stand for KERRY here. He specifically gave Joe the Credit and

did not claim to have gone south at all. Who is throwing out this slime?

Show your colors. I am ashamed if you are with Dean.

[adadem]

8. Thank you

Sensitivity...if all Dean supporters were like you maybe I wouldn't have become so angry with his campaign.

[JI7]

3. he does only give lieberman credit

whenever i have heard him speak on this he never claims to have done what joe lieberman did. he gives joe lieberman credit for going down south and registering. but he never claimed to have done the exact same thing himself.

[adadem]

9. This is

absolutely the truth. He always gives Joe credit for what he did. Though he did do some volunteer work in college I think he always regretted not doing more (and not for political reasons...I know that one will be coming)

[Rowdyboy]

4. Helluva lot more than Dean ever did for disenfranchised Blacks

in Mississippi

[NewYorkerfromMass]

5. very much the same as the thrown medals

Kerry never said anywhere that he threw his own medals.

[Maddy McCall]

6. At Yale and other northern campuses organizers held training camps

for black and white people who helped in the struggle. In fact, those schools were pivotal, and without the training done at those schools and the monetary support pouring out of the north (remember, almost all civil rights workers in the South were jailed and had to come up with bail money) the movement would have floundered.

Most of the credit for the passage of CRA 1964 and CRA 1965 goes to grassroots efforts by black Mississippians. But national exposure and financial support were also necessary to push through changes in the South.

[blm]

10. Thanks for the perspective. There were important factors to ALL components

of that struggle. The campuses were crucial in their support.

[sandnsea]

7. Dean talks about the 60's

Talks about the togetherness and the hope for a new future and all the rest. What was he doing? Skiing. Every other candidate participated in varying ways in social movements at that time. Only Dean did nothing. The rest all deserve our admiration for their involvement.