Bob Filner: “I could not have been more proud to dedicate my first address in this Chamber to the celebration of African-American…”

“I could not have been more proud to dedicate my first address in this Chamber to the celebration of African-American freedom and accomplishment. As many of my colleagues know, I have a special link to the African-American struggle for freedom. Some 35 years ago, I rode though Mississippi as a freedom rider and witnessed first-hand the desperate and often brutal attempts to preserve segregation. In that summer of 1961, Mississippi was a war zone. Innocent black Americans were beaten and killed. Angry mobs attacked black men and women at will. Random gunfire contributed to an environment of terror and fear. I spent several months in a Mississippi State Penitentiary isolation cell as a result of my efforts in the struggle for equality. We have come a long way since then. Today, African-Americans have more opportunities open to them than ever before. African-Americans attend our Nation's finest schools, are some of America's most successful entrepreneurs, and hold office at the highest levels of state and federal government.”