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.
Jesse ought to go back to Chicago - blacks are killing blacks in record numbers. Don’t they need to ‘heal’ too?
I think Liberia was set up for just such an occasion
IIRC, there weren’t many takers.
I Wonder why?
Jesus isn’t within a MILLON miles of Jesse Jackson!
He is there for a fund raiser.
Mr “I feel relived when late at nite it’s a white guy behind me and not a black guy”, is there for mula.
“JournOlists” will buy whatever the Rev. is selling
“Our mission is to heal the broken-hearted and set the captives free, and to do it now,” he said.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
He’s a couple years too late. Where was he when this 17 year-old Cherokee was the victim?
http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?subjectid=704&articleid=20120415_11_A1_CUTLIN377985
Jake England took it all on himself at 17, managing his father’s tree-cutting business and raising his teenage sister after witnessing his father’s fatal shooting in 2010.
Carl England, a blue-collar worker who did whatever it took to feed his children, had a short temper and beat Jake’s mother for years in their small house where Jake and his two sisters could see and hear everything.
But Jake England idolized him.
“When Carl died, those kids lost every bit of security they ever had,” said a family friend who described herself as a motherly figure to Jake. “Jake never smiled anymore. He just kept his head down and paid the bills.”
When his girlfriend, Sheran Wilde, 24, shot herself in front of him in January and left him with their infant son, he snapped, friends said.
(snip)
That came on the night of April 5, 2010, when Carl England got a call from Carly England, who was living with her boyfriend, Damien Neal, at Comanche Park Apartments, 3608 N. Quaker Ave.
She told her father that a man was trying to break into the apartment, and Carl England rushed over.
Neal later testified in court that Pernell Demond Jefferson, with whom he had previously fought, came to the door looking for marijuana about 9:30 p.m. and that he returned less than a minute later and tried to kick in the door.
Carl England reportedly arrived as Jefferson was trying to enter through the back door.
Jefferson then left, and Carl England went looking for him, friends said. Jefferson shot him during the subsequent confrontation as Jake watched, according to court records and friends.
(snip)
I’ll chip in for a bus ticket to their old country!
And spitting in the food he served to white customers at a hotel in Greenville, SC.
“On to the next city for more healing ....”
And, uh, how much is this here “healin’” gonna cost??
For every black murdered by a white, how many whites are murdered by a black?
I guarantee you, those assaults go with the minimal amount of attention, because they are NOT RARE.
A lot of them do that.
The top of the article says "By BILL SHERMAN World Religion Writer". Bet it was ghost written by je$$e, himself. (And, probably demanded and got a 'writers fee' of $10,000 or so, for doing it.)
***and at a Democratic fundraiser at the Camelot Hotel in 1987,****
Didn’t the Hari Krishnas or Maharishis buy the old “Cram-a-lot” hotel? It had been closed for years! Maybe before 1987.
I believe it has been torn down to widen the Skelly Bypass (I-44).
***an Oklahoma jury will send both shooters to Death Row.***
Don’t mean a thing if the warden forgets the execution date as he did back about 30 years ago and failed to execute a man for two murders. The murderer was resentenced to LIFE.
Jesse Jackson preaching about “healing” is like fornicating for chastity. Right!
Yes- he said he did that!
How about "heeling" ...kinda like a trained pet.
Or does the fact that no crackers are involved mean there's no money to be made?
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