Thurmond's daughter
I've devoured every version of every Strom Thurmond article that came across the Associated Press news wire this week, and now I was just reading the transcript of an online chat with the Washington Post reporter who broke the story. It took her 25 years to get the story, but she got it.In case anyone's been hiding under a rock this week and hasn't heard, a 78-year-old retired teacher came forward this week and acknowledged that she is the half-black daughter of former Senator Strom Thurmond, who died this summer at age 100. It turns out that the man who spent more time in the Legislature than anyone else and was a strong segregationalist until his later years actually had some sort of affair with a 16-year-old maid when he was 22.
For reasons that some of my blog readers know, the story has affected me quite a bit. But I've also been thinking, "I want to be the one to tell her story." The Washington Post reporter who got the exclusive story was patient. She kept working on it, kept pushing sources and, when Thurmond's daughter was ready to come forward, she contacted the Post reporter. That is probably the highest compliment a reporter could receive.
I'm a reporter because I want to tell stories. True ones. And I can think of no other story I'd rather tell than this one. This woman's story is already being told, but it gives me a goal and reminds me that nothing is impossible if I really want to do it. This I know.
Posted by Layla at 1:19 AM, December 19, 2003
— Comments —