“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.<br>
<br>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!<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">
On Tue, Feb 8, 2011 at 6:59 AM, Tom Hansen <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:thansen@moscow.com">thansen@moscow.com</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding-left: 1ex;">
Courtesy of today's (February 8, 2011) Spokesman-Review.<br>
<br>
---------------------------------------------------------<br>
<br>
Rev. Jesse Jackson at UI says Spokane would-be march bomber ‘more sick<br>
than mean’<br>
Kevin Graman, The Spokesman-Review<br>
<br>
Freedom does not mean equality, the Rev. Jesse Jackson told a packed house<br>
at the University of Idaho on Monday night.<br>
<br>
“We are all free, but we are becoming less equal every day,” the civil<br>
rights leader said, pointing to a widening economic disparity.<br>
<br>
About 4,500 turned out to hear Jackson at the Kibbie-ASUI Activity Center<br>
to mark Black History Month. His lecture, “Keep Hope Alive,” targeted<br>
young people who he said are challenged with the struggle for economic<br>
justice, just as their predecessors fought for racial justice and voting<br>
rights.<br>
<br>
“Black history is not for blacks only,” Jackson said. “Blacks were the<br>
catalyst for change, but they were not alone” in suffering the effects of<br>
inequality.<br>
<br>
We must ask ourselves who we are as a nation, when 1 percent of us control<br>
as much wealth as 90 percent of the rest, when 59 million are without<br>
health care, 30 million are without jobs and 50 million lack food<br>
security, Jackson said.<br>
<br>
“Is not our character measured by ‘how we treat the least of these’?”<br>
Jackson said.<br>
<br>
When President Barack Obama was elected it was “midnight for our economy”<br>
because the banks had chosen investing over lending. The problem today is<br>
that when the banks were bailed out, it was not linked to lending. “So the<br>
banks got bailed out and we got left out,” he said.<br>
<br>
“We have globalized capital. Now we must globalize human rights.”<br>
<br>
During a news conference in advance of his address, Jackson said that<br>
whoever left a backpack bomb on the route of Spokane’s Martin Luther King<br>
Jr. Day march last month “was more sick than mean.”<br>
<br>
“We must address the issues that drive us to sickness,” he said.<br>
<br>
Jackson spoke of the conditions in the United States today that make<br>
unthinkable violence thinkable. Law enforcement continues to hunt for<br>
clues to the apparently racially motivated bomb attempt in Spokane.<br>
<br>
“We are the most violent nation on Earth,” Jackson said, a nation where<br>
each year 32,000 people are killed by gun violence. Yet we remain<br>
“addicted to semi-automatic weapons.”<br>
<br>
The Super Bowl, Jackson said, was not just a game but “a metaphor for our<br>
dreams of America.”<br>
<br>
“On the playing field there is an inherent sense of justice,” Jackson<br>
said, where referees and instant replay make sure the game is played<br>
fairly. But off the field, minorities and the poor are still struggling to<br>
find their place in America.<br>
<br>
On the subject of Egypt, Jackson said the United States “chose stability<br>
over democracy and ended up embracing tyrants” as it has done in Africa<br>
and Latin America.<br>
<br>
“Today we have achieved freedom in America,” he said. “Now we need to<br>
achieve equality.”<br>
<br>
----------------------<br>
<br>
The Rev. Jesse Jackson addresses thousands Monday night at UI.<br>
<br>
<a href="http://media.spokesman.com/photos/2011/02/08/cop_jackson08_t620.jpg" target="_blank">http://media.spokesman.com/photos/2011/02/08/cop_jackson08_t620.jpg</a><br>
<br>
---------------------------------------------------------<br>
<br>
Seeya round town, Moscow.<br>
<br>
Tom Hansen<br>
Moscow, Idaho<br>
<br>
"It is time for us to turn to each other, not on each other."<br>
<br>
- Rev. Jesse Jackson<br>
<br>
=======================================================<br>
List services made available by First Step Internet,<br>
serving the communities of the Palouse since 1994.<br>
<a href="http://www.fsr.net" target="_blank">http://www.fsr.net</a><br>
mailto:<a href="mailto:Vision2020@moscow.com">Vision2020@moscow.com</a><br>
=======================================================<br>
</blockquote></div><br>