I wanted to invoke the name of a forgotten hero of the Civil Rights Movement ... Assistant Attorney General of the Kennedy and Johnson Administrations ... Norbert Schlei.
From Schlei's April 21, 2003 Obit in the LA Times:
"Schlei was the principal draftsman of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and the Immigration Reform Act of 1967.
"I felt I was lucky," Schlei told the New York Times in 1995, "because I was able to turn what ability I had to something important."
Schlei had barely moved into his quarters in August 1962 as head of the office of legal counsel just vacated by Katzenbach, when he was put to work. The University of Mississippi had refused to allow James Meredith, a black student, to enroll that fall, and Kennedy sent Schlei to Oxford, Miss., to get Meredith into the school."
There were many heroes that paved the way for Obama's (and America's) Victory tonight ... Norbert Schlei should be remembered for his role.
About Barack Obama
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