Legendary pastor and civil rights leader heads get out the vote mission
by S. Hale
It was truly a red-letter day at High Street Baptist Church in northwest as a sizable crowd of civic-minded parishioners joined certain dignitaries to welcome Rev. Jessie Jackson to the area. The stop was one of several planned during Jackson’s “Healing and Rebuilding Tour” aimed at canvassing several central and western Virginia localities.
Although the tour’s express mission is to get out the vote, Jackson took the opportunity to address various topics critical to the unsettling unrest of our nation and the world.
At 75, Jackson is himself a legend as one of the forerunners on the front lines of the civil rights movement from the 60’s to the present. As one who fought for years along side legendary civil rights leader Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., Jackson was with King on that fateful day April 4, 1968 when he was assassinated. Among his countless accomplishments in the struggle for social justice, Jackson, in 1971, founded the Rainbow Push Coalition–an organization established to “improve the economic conditions of Black communities across the US.”
During her introduction of the iconic minister, Brenda Hale, local NAACP president, briefly chronicled some of Jackson’s impressive list of accomplishments. Among those mentioned was the “pivotal role he played in 1983, to register more than 100,000 African American voters which led to the election of Harold Washington, Chicago’s first African American mayor. Hale also highlighted Jackson’s 2 bids for US President in the 80’s.
The tour involved stops at various points in the state as Virginia State University, Petersburg, Lynchburg, George Mason University, Fairfax and several other colleges including University of Virginia in Charlottesville, the site of much racial unrest which Jackson spoke to.
“Things have changed so much in America… and we all want healing,” he said. “The pain of Charlottesville still haunts us very much…there’s too much hatred, violence, ignorance and fear between us. We must learn to live together as brothers and sisters and not die apart as fools.”
Throughout his talk, he urged the audience to repeat many of his most critical talking points to emphasize their significance. Visibly concerned, Jackson went on to express his views on people’s reluctance to receiving government subsidies.
“Some people say they don’t want federal assistance in Virginia,” he stated. Virginia couldn’t make pay role for a month without federal assistance.”
Jackson pointed out that “60% of Virginia’s budget is federal and loosing Medicaid alone would equate to a loss of $50 million. He also pitched his support for Affordable Health Care.
“The most vulnerable people in our society need healthcare based on need not based upon money,” he chided, yet with a soft voice.
Rev. Jackson wasted no time in his assault on voter registration–an issue he considers of paramount importance.
“We (as a country) should have automatic voter registration,” he said, which drew immediate and sustained applause.
“You get a birth certificate when you’re born, a death certificate when you die and you should get voter registration when you turn 18,” he said. “It is a barrier in our democracy.”
Following the event sponsored by the local branch NAACP, the longtime civil rights activist headed to Roanoke College for a town hall meeting.
In these increasingly troubled times that call for a new level of vigilance, nothing could be more welcomed than an encouraging message from one of the most seasoned soldiers in the ongoing struggle for social justice.
