Reid’s Black History Month column for theGrio raises questions
Some local black leaders and historians don't remember Reid having had a significant role in Civil Rights efforts...
From AOL News:
LAS VEGAS (Feb. 2) — Nevada Sen. Harry Reid, who last month apologized for privately praising President Barack Obama’s lack of a “Negro dialect,” posted a Black History Month essay on his Web site Monday in which he takes credit for racial integration in Las Vegas.
One problem: Some local black leaders and historians don’t remember him having had a significant role in that effort and the senator himself made no reference to it in his 2008 memoir.
In the essay, which was also published as an opinion piece for the black-issues Web site The Grio under Harry Reid’s byline, the Senate majority leader wrote: “I worked hard during my time in local politics in Nevada to integrate the Las Vegas strip [sic] and the gaming industry.”
Yet Joe Neal, a former Democratic state senator who was a key figure in the civil rights movement in Nevada, was baffled by the claim. For one thing, Reid was only 20 when a famous 1960 meeting between casino owners, progressive government officials and NAACP leaders resulted in an accord to integrate Las Vegas casinos for customers.
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