centurylink. your link to what s next. the oldest-living american veteran passed away today. emma didlake joined the women s auxiliary corps in 1943 in word war ii. she had five children at just 38 years old. she held the rank of private and served as a driver, a proud african-american soldier. from the segregated south. last month she met with president obama in the oval office where he thanked her personally for her service. we remember the people who took part in that war as the greatest generation. it s an honor that is we earned. their heroism and sacrifice are justly celebrated. but the idea of the greatest generation can apply to other fights as well. and this weekend we lost the veteran of another battle, the battle for civil rights. julian bond, a founding member
the oldest-living american veteran passed away today. emma didlake joined the core in 1943 in world war ii. she had five children at just 38 years old. she held the rank of private and served as a driver, a proud african-american soldier. last month she met with president obama in the oval office where he thanked her personally for her service. we remember the people who took part in that war as the greatest generation. it s an honor that is well-known. their heroism and sacrifice are justly celebrated. but the idea of the greatest generation can apply to other fights as well. and this weekend we lost the veteran of another battle, the battle for civil rights. julian bond, a founding member of the student non-violent coordinating committee or snicc. he was a politician, a professor
anyway. there s a reason it s called jury duty not jury favor to the state. one of the keys to our criminal justice system this idea that a jury of your peers ought to actually include your peers. and right now as we are in the midst of a black lives matter movement which was in many ways prompted not just by the shooting and choking deaths of michael brown and eric garner but by the grand jury decisions that felt so incongruous with what people had in some cases seen on video this idea of an objective third party, a jury, considering the evidence and rendering a fair decision is central to our american sense of justice. if you look at history, one of the great examples of a miscarriage of justice is in the jim crow era in the u.s. where african-american defendants were so often found guilty by au white juries. but today right now 50 years
so you move to a healthier mouth from day one. this was the scene in november, 2008. long lines across the country as a record number of americans turned out to cast their ballot for president. more than 130 million people voted that year. they achieved a historic feat. americans elected senator barack obama as the first african-american president of the united states. it was a coalition where young voters played a crucial role in where african-american and latino voters flex their electoral muscle in ways never seen before. black women recorded the highest voter turnout of any race/gender category. in 2012 that same coalition that same group of voters turned out again in even higher numbers and they re-elected president obama even in the face of a variety of voting restrictions that took effect that year. these are the triumphs that allow the president to note with some humor that he won both elections but it s important to
of the student non-violent coordinating committee or snicc. he was an activist for all, a writer, a poet, a politician, a professor and he was a part of the civil rights generation which for many african-american communities is easily understood as our greatest generation. julian bond is not an icon or a hero in some basic sense. he was a flesh and blood person, a man, who was funny and imperfect and self deprecating. thank you. thank you. thank you very much. i guess that many of you are probably wondering why a georgia state senator is hosting a television comedy show. frankly, ever since i came up here, i ve been wondering about it myself. i had hoped that the people knew that that was my record, too, as an anti-war and civil rights activist and as a person for nearly 20 years has tried to stand up for the underprivileged and unrepresented, i thought they may have known that i was