[Jacquerie]

IIRC he was relieved to see they were WHITE boys.

[Alberta's Child]

I don't think this quote is accurate. I remember reading or hearing something along these lines in which he said that if he were walking down a street at night and came across a group of young men, he'd be relieved if it turned out they were white.

[beaversmom]

You mean Jesse wouldn’t want the Jena 6 behind him?

[Sci Fi Guy]

I don't think that is a Jesse quote. I do know that Jesse said that seeing a group of young black men standing on a corner -doing nothing, made him nervous.

Other people (i'm thinking michael medved) have used the example of people carrying Bibles when discussing the effects of religion in society. I.e. you are walking down the street at night, several young men are walking toward you, what do you think? what if they are carrying bibles and coming from church?

[LibWhacker]

http://www.jeffreygoldberg.net/articles/nyt/the_color_of_suspicion.php

Even civil rights leaders profile. “There is nothing more painful for me at this stage in my life,” Jesse Jackson said several years ago, “than to walk down the street and hear footsteps and start thinking about robbery—and then look around and see somebody white and feel relieved.” Jackson now says his quotation was “taken out of context.” The context, he said, is that violence is the inevitable byproduct of poor education and health care. But no amount of “context” matters when you fear that you are about to be mugged.

[robertpaulsen]

“There is nothing more painful to me at this stage in my life than to walk down the street and hear footsteps and start thinking about robbery. Then look around and see somebody White and feel relieved.”
-- Jesse Jackson

[conservatism_IS_compassion]

Looks to me like you have the correct answer - and no incorrect ones - PDQ.

Nice FReepin', guys.

[Aut Pax Aut Bellum]

Dr. Seuss?

[hosepipe]

What kind of white?...

Hussein Obama white, Tony Brown white, Micheal Jackson white, Alicia Keyes white, or Betty White white...

[AmericanExceptionalist]

Here is the exact quote, from a 1993 PUSH convention:

"There is nothing more painful to me at this stage of my life than to walk down the street and hear footsteps and start thinking about Robbery — then look around and see somebody white and feel relieved."