Jesse Jackson Hails Obama Victory

Civil rights leader calls win 'transformational' moment in history
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Jun 4, 2008 4:03 AM CDT
Jesse Jackson Hails Obama Victory
Barack Obama and the Rev. Jesse Jackson are seen at the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Scholarship Awards Breakfast in Chicago in this Jan. 15, 2007 file photo.    (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast, File)

Jesse Jackson praised Barack Obama's key victory last night as a "transformational moment" in American history, Reuters reports. "We knew this breakthrough was possible—we didn't know when or who," said the two-time presidential candidate, emphasizing the remarkable 53-year journey of African-Americans from a Mississippi lynching in 1955 to today.

"It is a fulfilling moment to be in Africa trying to reconcile two continents so savagely torn apart by the slave trade—as a son of America and Africa becomes the de facto Democratic Party nominee," Jackson said by phone from Tanzania, where he's attending a summit. "It says a lot about a growing, maturing, changing America." (More Jesse Jackson stories.)

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