[Vision2020] Rev. Jesse Jackson at UI says Spokane Would-Be Bomber ‘more sick than mean’

[Joe Campbell]

“Black history is not for blacks only” was another thing I learned last
night. It's unfortunate that Jackson's image is so distorted. The talk last
night was really about American history, not just black history. I can't
help but think that everyone on the V -- conservatives, progressives,
liberals, and moderates -- would have enjoyed the message and agreed with
almost everything that Jackson had to say. As Jackson put it, it's not about
color; it's about character.

Actually, I had no desire to go to the talk but my son said he wanted to go,
a boy's night out with his friend and his friend's dad (who is also my
friend). A great idea and a great evening!

On Tue, Feb 8, 2011 at 6:59 AM, Tom Hansen <thansen at moscow.com> wrote:

> Courtesy of today's (February 8, 2011) Spokesman-Review.
>
> ---------------------------------------------------------
>
> Rev. Jesse Jackson at UI says Spokane would-be march bomber ‘more sick
> than mean’
> Kevin Graman, The Spokesman-Review
>
> Freedom does not mean equality, the Rev. Jesse Jackson told a packed house
> at the University of Idaho on Monday night.
>
> “We are all free, but we are becoming less equal every day,” the civil
> rights leader said, pointing to a widening economic disparity.
>
> About 4,500 turned out to hear Jackson at the Kibbie-ASUI Activity Center
> to mark Black History Month. His lecture, “Keep Hope Alive,” targeted
> young people who he said are challenged with the struggle for economic
> justice, just as their predecessors fought for racial justice and voting
> rights.
>
> “Black history is not for blacks only,” Jackson said. “Blacks were the
> catalyst for change, but they were not alone” in suffering the effects of
> inequality.
>
> We must ask ourselves who we are as a nation, when 1 percent of us control
> as much wealth as 90 percent of the rest, when 59 million are without
> health care, 30 million are without jobs and 50 million lack food
> security, Jackson said.
>
> “Is not our character measured by ‘how we treat the least of these’?”
> Jackson said.
>
> When President Barack Obama was elected it was “midnight for our economy”
> because the banks had chosen investing over lending. The problem today is
> that when the banks were bailed out, it was not linked to lending. “So the
> banks got bailed out and we got left out,” he said.
>
> “We have globalized capital. Now we must globalize human rights.”
>
> During a news conference in advance of his address, Jackson said that
> whoever left a backpack bomb on the route of Spokane’s Martin Luther King
> Jr. Day march last month “was more sick than mean.”
>
> “We must address the issues that drive us to sickness,” he said.
>
> Jackson spoke of the conditions in the United States today that make
> unthinkable violence thinkable. Law enforcement continues to hunt for
> clues to the apparently racially motivated bomb attempt in Spokane.
>
> “We are the most violent nation on Earth,” Jackson said, a nation where
> each year 32,000 people are killed by gun violence. Yet we remain
> “addicted to semi-automatic weapons.”
>
> The Super Bowl, Jackson said, was not just a game but “a metaphor for our
> dreams of America.”
>
> “On the playing field there is an inherent sense of justice,” Jackson
> said, where referees and instant replay make sure the game is played
> fairly. But off the field, minorities and the poor are still struggling to
> find their place in America.
>
> On the subject of Egypt, Jackson said the United States “chose stability
> over democracy and ended up embracing tyrants” as it has done in Africa
> and Latin America.
>
> “Today we have achieved freedom in America,” he said. “Now we need to
> achieve equality.”
>
> ----------------------
>
> The Rev. Jesse Jackson addresses thousands Monday night at UI.
>
> http://media.spokesman.com/photos/2011/02/08/cop_jackson08_t620.jpg
>
> ---------------------------------------------------------
>
> Seeya round town, Moscow.
>
> Tom Hansen
> Moscow, Idaho
>
> "It is time for us to turn to each other, not on each other."
>
> - Rev. Jesse Jackson
>
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