Obama Inauguration to be a Civil Rights Event for Many

Reservations are nearly gone on buses bound for the inauguration of President-elect Barack Obama in January. Many say the event will be akin to a civil rights rally. The Martin Luther King Commission is filling 32 buses from around North Carolina to attend the presidential inauguration on January 20th in Washington. Dozens of other church and community groups are planning similar treks. And even though tickets to the actual ceremony are scarce, Charlotte civil rights activist Ahmad Daniels says many African Americans are eager just to be in Washington that day. "We have older people in their eighties who never believed they would see the day when there would be an African American in the highest office in the land," says Daniels. "They're going. So are their children and grandchildren. Families are going. It's almost like the coming of the Lord or something. And maybe I shouldn't say it like that, but that's how it's been received." Daniels says many people are drawing parallels between Obama's inauguration and the pivotal march on Washington in 1963 when Dr. Martin Luther King, Junior delivered his "I Have a Dream" speech.