Sen. Cory Booker (D-nj) On Sunday Emphatically Said His Roots “go Back To Slavery” And His Roots Rose Up During The Civil Rights Struggles In The 1960s, Potentially Previewing A Major Potential Point Of Contrast Between Him And Sen. Kamala Harris (D-ca) As They Court The Party’s Critical Black Primary Voters.
Speaking at the “Bloody Sunday” commemorative service at the Brown Chapel AME (African Methodist Episcopal) Church in Selma, Alabama, Booker told the story about how his “roots rose up in the 1960s” when his parents tried to buy a home in New Jersey. He said they were often “denied housing because of the color of their skin” and even had dogs sicced on them.
“We’ve got to remember we cannot handle the moral amnesia that forgets the roots that are in the soil that was poisoned with hatred and bigotry but still found root in the ground,” Booker said. “We may be the fruits, but we cannot forget the roots. My roots go back to slavery. They rose up through poverty and segregation, hardship and pain. Rose up from black churches, through civil rights organizations, through HBCUs.”
He said a volunteer white housing lawyer and others who were inspired by the voting rights protests in Selma eventually helped his parents buy their home.
“They set up an operation where my parents would go look at a house and be told it was sold, and the white couple would follow them and find out that the house was still for sale,” Booker said. “My parents were told the house was sold. The white couple found the house was for sale. The white couple put a bid in on the house. The bid was accepted. Papers were drawn up. A closing was set. On the day of the closing, the white couple didn’t show up.” – READ MORE