MSNBC's Sharpton Recounts Reagan Speech Near Site of Civil Rights Activist Murders
On the Friday, June 21, PoliticsNation on MSNBC, host Al Sharpton brought up former President Ronald Reagan giving a speech in 1980 near the town of Philadelphia, Mississippi, where three civil rights activists were famously murdered in 1963.
Referring to then-candidate Reagan's first speech after the Republican convention which he delivered at the Neshoba County Fair a few miles from Philadelphia, Sharpton incorrectly claimed Philadelphia was where Reagan "announced he was running for President" as the MSNBC host related:
You know, what is interesting is a lot of younger people don't know that blacks and whites, whites died in the struggle, and they were registering voters in Philadelphia, Mississippi, as we wait to hear the Supreme Court rule on the Voting Rights Act.
It's also interesting that Ronald Reagan announced he was running for President in Philadelphia, Mississippi, and, other than this killing. I don't know what Philadelphia, Mississippi was known for.
Guest Martin Luther King, III, responded:
You know, that is very interesting, the first point that you made, that Ronald Reagan announced his candidacy, and so, obviously, Philadelphia was a very segregated community. And obviously, today, as many other communities, far, much more different.
But, you know, I think what we have to look at is, as we sit on the precipice of a decision, when people cannot vote just because of restrictions that have been put in place. I certainly hope and pray, Rev, that the Supreme Court's decision will not remove section five of the Voting Rights Act.
-- Brad Wimouth is a news analyst at the Media Research Center
