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January 20, 2009

Mississippi Newspaper Apologizes for Civil Rights Coverage
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In Mississippi, the Meridian Star newspaper has published an apology for
its past coverage of civil rights issues. An editorial read in part,
"There was a time when this newspaper–– and many others across the
south—acted with gross neglect by largely ignoring the unfairness of
segregated schools, buses, restaurants, washrooms, theaters and other
public places. We did it through omission, by not recording for our
readers many of the most important civil rights activities that happened
in our midst, including protests and sit-ins. That was wrong. We should
have loudly protested segregation and the efforts to block voter
registration of black East Mississippians.” The editorial was published
on Sunday, one day before the Martin Luther King Day holiday and two
days before the inauguration of Barack Obama as America’s first black
president.



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