Posted on 09/18/2007 9:58:38 PM PDT by West Coast Conservative
The Rev. Jesse Jackson called Tuesday on Democrats seeking the 2008 nomination for president to give S.C. voters something to vote for when they go to the polls in January.
On a statewide tour to register new voters, Jackson said South Carolina will determine who has momentum in the primary when it votes Jan. 29.
Jackson sharply criticized presidential hopeful and Illinois Sen. Barack Obama for acting like hes white in what Jackson said has been a tepid response to six black juveniles arrest on attempted-murder charges in Jena, La. Jackson, who also lives in Illinois, endorsed Obama in March, according to The Associated Press.
If I were a candidate, Id be all over Jena, Jackson said after an hourlong speech at Columbias historically black Benedict College.
Jena is a defining moment, just like Selma was a defining moment, said the iconic civil rights figure, who worked with Martin Luther King Jr. in the 1965 Selma civil rights movement and was with King at his 1968 assassination.
Jackson also said Obama, who consistently has placed second in state and national polls behind New York Sen. Hillary Clinton, must be bolder in his political positions if he is to erase Clintons lead.
Jackson is the only African-American ever to carry South Carolina in a presidential primary election.
Obamas South Carolina campaign pointed to a statement it released last week in which Obama called on the local Louisiana district attorney to drop the excessive charges brought in the case.
When nooses are being hung in high schools in the 21st century, its a tragedy, the Obama statement said. It shows that we still have a lot of work to do as a nation to heal our racial tensions.
Thousands from across the country, including some from Columbia, are expected to converge on the small town of Jena today to protest the Jena 6 arrests.
Jackson told the 500 to 600 students in his audience at Benedict that criminal injustice, instead of a rope, is the pressing civil rights issue of their day, but that voting remained their strongest ally.
Your fight is not about ropes, its about hope, Jackson said, blasting the flood of guns and violence he said permeates many black communities.
Civil rights, he said, has become the counterculture of the day rather than the prevailing culture. You cant call on the Justice Department anymore; its not there.
Jackson, who became only the second major black candidate to run for president, won five primaries in his 1984 bid for the office, then 11 primaries and nearly 7 million votes in his 1988 run.
He said the 2008 presidential candidates must speak most directly to the pressing S.C. issues of housing, high tuition costs, health care and a plan to end the war in Iraq.
The candidates have got to speak to South Carolina, said Jackson, who was traveling also to S.C. State University in Orangeburg and to Charleston Tuesday evening before wrapping up his registration drive tonight in Aiken.
A Greenville native, Jackson said he hoped to register thousands of new voters during the statewide swing, which began Saturday in Rock Hill.
Their votes must equal change, he said, referring to residents in a state where only 1 in 4 eligible voters go to the polls. I want to make sure the right agenda is being voted on in 2008.
His approach worked for senior mass-communications major Darius Dior Porcher, 21, who graduated from famed Scotts Branch High School in Clarendon County, which produced the Briggs v. Elliott school desegregation case of 1954.
The main thing when you speak to students is to get them to move, Porcher said. He moved students today. He got them to come down to the floor and register to vote.
“The Untold Knoxville Murders”
Right, you’re talking about Channon Christian and Christopher Newsom. I’ll never forget those names or the horror they went through.
For those of you who don’t know, this is the story:
Channon Christian and Christopher Newsom were both white and their murderers were black. Both were physically mutilated. Christopher was raped, his penis cut off and he was set on fire. Channon was molested and raped for four days, her breast was cut off, bleach was poured down her throat and she was then set afire.
The Mainstream media said nothing.
Jessie Jackson racist bastardo along with pal Al Sharptongue.
A gang of black punks attacked a lone white kid and were charged with attempted murder. Screw you, Jesse.
Jesse, Obama’s half white. Maybe the white half is acting black — and the black half is acting white.
"Why no Senator Obama, I can't exorcise just your white half..."
If it paid him; Jesse would be doing the same.
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Jena like Bubba ClinToon needs ministering too !!!
(Jesse) Jackson criticizes Obama (”acting like he’s white”)...
some rainbow coalition!!!!!
Just In ,Rudy says Hillary acting like she is Black at Campaign event. Hillary quoted ,”I not been mo saprized ta see Tem repblicans doin to you all blaack folks”
He is half white.
Someone needs to ask Jesse to expand on his reasoning. Does he mean that Obama is acting like a civilized human being instead of a thug, or is he too clean and articulate to be black? Seems to be a racist thing to say Jesse.
sw
Heh Jessie. What is wrong with being white?
Jesse will never rise above being a racist street thug. He gets his money via corporate ‘protection’ rackets.
Hillary really did step in to comment on the subject today with Al Sharpton. Hillary indicated she has the best understanding of race relations.
Why is not OK to act white? Should we be ashamed of acting white?
This man is the most racist person on the face of the Earth.
Why is not OK to act white? Should we be ashamed of acting white?
This man is the most racist person on the face of the Earth.
Absolutely! What is the matter with acting white? Racist POS!
The msm will give him a pass. Now had it been a white reverend saying a half white/half black was`nt acting white enough, the msm would go berserk.
Jesse is such a moron. If Barack was acting white he’d be pretending to have a southern accent like Hillary.
Upon further reflection I think James Earl Ray should have sent one Jesse’s way too.
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