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'I never ... thought I would live to see this day'

Preston Marshall stared down fire hoses, billy clubs and hatred to march with Martin Luther King Jr.

Eufaula Frazier watched her Liberty City neighborhood burn after police were cleared of beating an unarmed black motorcyclist to death.

Neither thought they would ever see this day.

On Thursday, when Barack Obama officially becomes the first black presidential nominee, he will stand on the shoulders of these longtime Miamians and other African Americans who struggled and suffered for civil rights.

Much has been said about Obama's effect on young people, but it is the older folks who lay the biggest claim on his acceptance speech.

"I didn't know it would happen in my lifetime," said Marshall, who witnessed King's famous Washington address — 45 years ago Thursday — and founded Miami's parade in his honor. "Dr. King's dream is coming true."
Read entire article at McClatchy