Posted on 04/15/2012 3:25:53 PM PDT by Tailgunner Joe
The Rev. Jesse Jackson came to Tulsa to help bring healing in the wake of the Good Friday shootings that left three people dead, he said Friday.
"When you walk down the street and are shot in cold blood, there are some broken hearts in town," he said in an afternoon press conference on the steps of First Baptist Church North Tulsa.
"Our mission is to heal the broken-hearted and set the captives free, and to do it now," he said.
"This is my ministry. This is what Jesus would have me do - preach good news to the poor, heal the broken-hearted."
Responding to concerns expressed by some people that his appearance in Tulsa could be divisive, Jackson said people instead should be concerned about "those who kill innocent people for revenge. That's the threat."
"They should be afraid of those who want to have concealed weapons in churches and schools and the public parks.
"We've fought to make America better," he said, citing civil rights laws that he said have allowed blacks and whites to live together peacefully.
Tulsa City Councilor Jack Henderson, who accompanied Jackson on Friday, said it was good that he came to Tulsa.
"I think it will put a lot of people's fears to rest that were so worried about him coming here with an agenda to stir up a mess," he said.
"He's not about that. He has a track record of trying to calm the waters, ease the pain, and I think he's going to be able to do that here."
The Rev. Anthony Scott, pastor of First Baptist Church North Tulsa, said he was honored to meet a man of Jackson's status.
"He has such a common touch. He talked to me like I'm someone he's known for years," Scott said.
He said Jackson's Tulsa visit has been "tremendous. ... Rev. Jackson has been in constant contact with the mayor. The city has certainly welcomed him, at least from the mayoral office."
Jackson spent a whirlwind day in Tulsa on Friday, attending the funeral of Bobby Clark, one of three people who were killed in the Good Friday shootings, meeting privately with north Tulsa civic and church leaders and meeting with the media.
He is scheduled to speak at a public rally at 6 p.m. Saturday at First Baptist Church North Tulsa, 1414 N. Greenwood Ave., and to preach there at 11 a.m. Sunday. A Sunday afternoon appearance by civil rights worker Al Sharpton was canceled Friday.
The funeral for Clark, 54, was held Friday at Crown Hill Chapel.
Jackson compared Clark's killing with the recent Trayvon Martin slaying in Florida.
"From Trayvon to Bobby - who would have thought?" Jackson asked.
He added that "the whole world is focused on Bobby."
Calling the shooting deaths an "act of terrorism," Jackson added that ultimately good would come from them "for Tulsa and for Oklahoma."
He said: "From the grave God can talk to us - there's power in the blood of the innocent. It's our job to turn pain into power. What we do now will determine the redemptive power of this crisis."
Following Jackson, the Rev. John Tottress, one of the presiding ministers, said: "Black, white, green, God doesn't care. He doesn't have any prejudice. ... We are all made by one blood."
Among those attending Clark's service were Tulsa Mayor Dewey Bartlett, Henderson and Anthony Douglas, president of the Oklahoma NAACP.
Jackson has been to Tulsa several times over the last four decades.
He spoke at the University of Tulsa in 1973; at an Oral Roberts University commencement in the spring of 1978; at the Oklahoma Education Association meeting in the fall of 1978; at Central High School in 1985; and at a Democratic fundraiser at the Camelot Hotel in 1987, when he was running for president.
"But the mayor and police chief stepped up," Jackson said, prompting a standing ovation.
Although Jackson's message was about hope, he tempered it with reminders that inequality still exists. He noted, for example, that black unemployment, incarceration rates and suspension rates from school are greater than in other segments of the population.
"Blacks are under occupation," he said. "This is that other side of town."
Among the guests at Saturday's rally were City Councilor Jack Henderson and Mayor Dewey Bartlett.
Henderson said those who thought Jackson had come to the city to sow controversy were wrong.
"You will be able to tell them they don't know what they are talking about," Henderson said.
Bartlett said he has learned a lot about Jackson in the two days he has spent with him.
"What I came to understand is that he is a man of faith, he is a man of peace, he is a man of reconciliation ... and he is a man of commitment to the very things Martin Luther King died for," Bartlett said.
I remember when he was shaking down corporations.
I like to tell my children - and I'd like to tell Jesse Jackson - "When you have nothing worthwhile to say, please don't say it!"
Don’t worry Jesse, an Oklahoma jury will send both shooters to Death Row.
Some mayor... Dewey “the dufus” Bartlett must be in on the shakedown.
Down-low race huckster.
anybody keeping them from hopping a fvcking plane to the old country?
I read recently that for every black murdered by a white, there are 39 blacks murdered by blacks. No headlines, no marches, no interventions. Assuming this is true, I find it an extremely sad statistic. For Jackson and Sharpton to be so overtly racist is truly a sin.
I read recently that for every black murdered by a white, there are 39 blacks murdered by blacks. No headlines, no marches, no interventions. Assuming this is true, I find it an extremely sad statistic. For Jackson and Sharpton to be so overtly racist is truly a sin.
I read recently that for every black murdered by a white, there are 39 blacks murdered by blacks. No headlines, no marches, no interventions. Assuming this is true, I find it an extremely sad statistic. For Jackson and Sharpton to be so overtly racist is truly a sin.
“message of healing”
“When you walk down the street and are shot in cold blood ... “those who kill innocent people for revenge.”
Good work Dr. Grifter: The patient died, but the operation was a success.
On to the next city for more healing ....
Wish somebody had asked Jesse about the elderly white couple attacked by black thugs. Of course, that wasn’t a “hate” crime. Those thugs loved those folks while they were beating them, raping the elderly woman (who died the next day), shooting the man in the face with a BB gun, and robbing them. Yep, no hate there.
What I really want is for someone to present Jesse and Al with 2 lists: One of crimes perpetrated by whites against blacks in the past year, and one of crimes perpetrated by blacks against whites. Let’s see which list is longer.
I suppose Farakkhan was out sowing peace and goodwill, too. - If the “race” situation were ever healed, Sharpton, Jackson and Farakkhan would be out of a job in the race baiting line.
They seem to want to start a race war; they keep saying “let my people go!” Well, if they want to GIT, I sure ain’t stopping them from gittin’! Where they gonna go as cushy as LBJ’s “Great Society” with his “War on Poverty”? Africa? So be it. I’m sure not stopping them if they want to go back to Africa. Fare thee well, I say.
Here’s my $10 to help charter that plane.
1,018 Black Americans murdered by Black Americans since Trayvon Martin’s death 47 days ago.
It’s not just those 3 racists; it’s an *entire industry* worth mega-billions of dollars, and there’s no way they’ll ever let it go. Too much of a cash cow.
Something that remarkable should be cited.
It's been my experience that blacks detest blacks.
It’s all equal as the black thugs that killed that elderly couple will be executed as will the thugs who went on the shooting spree in Tulsa.
Jesse Jackson hates blacks. He wants to leave them defenseless.
Just look at the growing number of black on black defensive shootings going on in big cities in pro gun states then compare it to places like Chicago.
This is because we believe that in this society, your behavior has consequences. Live like a thug, die like a thug.
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