In fact, reading his words of hope again, I remembered Martin’s elder sister-in-struggle, Fannie Lou Hamer, Mississippi’s wise and courageous grassroots freedom movement leader who became a gift to us all. I recalled the story of her being questioned by a reporter at the historic 1964 Democratic National Convention and asked about her powerful challenge on behalf of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party to the convention’s acceptance of segregated delegations. Did her vigorous antisegregation stand mean that “she was seeking equality with the white man?” the reporter asked. “No,” Ms. Hamer
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