First.......a short word about the African airlift..........
Between 1959 and 1963, hundreds of African students were airlifted to America as part of an effort to prepare them for leadership roles in their native lands upon the fall of British colonialism. A number of those students stayed with families in Riverdale, getting their first tastes of America on the bucolic streets of Fieldston.
Riverdale was key to historic 'African airlift' - The Riverdale Press
Barack Obama was born August 4, 1961. So, since the airlift started in 1959 and ended in 1963, he wasn't lying. His father was probably one of the first to make it out.
As far as tying himself into Selma? Well, prior to that time, blacks and whites were kept separate, and if a white person married a black person, it would have surely meant being looked down upon, possibility for violence, and even worse. He was stating that because of the airlift AND because of the Civil Rights Movement finally getting some traction (resulting in the march on Selma in 1963 or 1964), THAT is the reason that his white mother was able to marry his black father.
Now on to Palin...........
She has made MANY gaffes and told many lies, principal among them was the birth certificate issue.
And..........fwiw...........if you don't know the true history of a nation, it's very difficult to keep the moral standards and traditions that have come down through the ages. Palin saying that PR was trying to warn the British? Bullshit. She was just pandering to her following by throwing in some NRA rhetoric to make it sound good.