ATLANTA — Former Atlanta Mayor, Congressman and U.N. Ambassador Andrew Young is celebrating his 94th birthday.
Channel 2 Action News was the only television station invited to join him in the Bahamas to celebrate and Channel 2’s Karyn Greer was the emcee.
From the streets of Atlanta to the beaches of the Bahamas, Young’s journey at 94 is still about building bridges, nurturing leaders and lifting up communities.
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Young told Channel 2 Action News that he used to travel to Jamaica with his fellow civil rights icon, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
“I was with him in Bimini in the Bahamas when he was writing his Nobel Peace Prize,” Young told Greer.
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The Atlanta icon told Greer in an exclusive interview about his proudest moment.
“Somewhere along the way, somebody told me there are no limits to what you can do if you don’t mind who gets the credit,” Young said. “So, I was never trying to get the credit, I was always trying to get people involved so that we got the job done.”
From the front lines of the Civil Rights Movement to the halls of U.S. Congress, the mayor’s office to the United Nations, Young has spent his life fighting for equality, justice and peace.
“I ended up getting a reputation for settling strikes with the garbage workers in Memphis and the hospital workers in Charleston, and there was a garbage worker strike here,” Young said in Atlanta.
Young worked hand in hand with King, helping organize historic marches and advance the Civil Rights Act and Voting Rights Act.
After King’s death, Young carried the torch forward, becoming Georgia’s first Black congressman since the Reconstruction Era.
“Nobody else wanted to run for Congress when I ran,” “Young told Channel 2 Action News. “I had said I couldn’t, the mayor’s salary back then was $50,000 a year and I had four kids.”
As mayor, then ambassador, as preacher to peacemaker, Young’s legacy is woven into Atlanta.
Young said another proud moment for him was helping bring the 1996 Olympic Games to Atlanta. He said he’s proud of his accomplishments and, at 94, he doesn’t have any regrets.
“I thought of going to heaven, not in a flaming chariot, but in one of these glass elevators taking me out through the roof and up on the glory,” Young said.
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