Posted on 09/07/2001 5:46:53 AM PDT by meandog
September 7, 2001
Jackson to make reparations a priority
By Steve Miller
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
The Rev. Jesse Jackson will make reparations for the past enslavement of blacks his No. 1 issue this fall, an aide to the civil rights leader promised yesterday.
The 59-year-old Mr. Jackson will hold a press conference at the Rainbow/PUSH headquarters in Chicago this morning to announce details of his new campaign.
"It is something new, a new priority," said Nizam Arain, acting press secretary for Mr. Jackson, who is scheduled to return tonight from the U.N. World Conference Against Racism. "It was raised and discussed at our annual convention [in August]. There are a variety of angles he intends to use, and I know that legislation is one, maybe even the top angle."
Mr. Jackson stepped up his rhetoric on reparations to American blacks for slavery at the conference this week, telling a news service that "we must make crooked ways straight."
"We have fewer services and less education. We are disproportionately jailed and killed by the state. We have shorter life spans. We have less access to capital," Mr. Jackson told Reuters during the event, which ended yesterday.
Only one African nation, Nigeria, stated during the conference that reparations were not necessary.
Mr. Jackson has had considerable success in his advocacy efforts over the years, from eliciting promises and money from corporate America to enhancing diversity programs, to getting out the black vote in record numbers.
Reparations has never been a top priority for Mr. Jackson, although he has broached the subject over the years. In 1997, he and other civil rights leaders met with President Clinton in the hopes of extracting an official apology for the existence of slavery in the United States.
"An apology is in order," said Mr. Jackson. "But you must not only apologize with your lips. Repent, repair and remedy go together."
In 1993, Mr. Jackson called on Western nations to pay reparations to Africa. Yet he did not mention that the reparations scheme would apply to U.S. blacks.
But emboldened by the acrimonious climate at the conference in South Africa this week, Mr. Jackson began making explicit references to the black community's growing push for reparations.
"In many ways, Africa subsidized America and Europe's development," he told BBC Radio 4's Today program. "If you don't feel apologetic for slavery, if you don't feel apologetic for colonialism, if you feel proud of it, then say that."
Mr. Jackson said that the limited U.S. involvement at the U.N. conference was due to the fear of addressing the issue of reparations. The United States withdrew its participation from the conference following numerous criticisms of Israel's role in the conflict in the Middle East.
"We used the Middle East controversy as an excuse [to avoid slavery]," he said Monday.
Civil rights groups have for years advocated financial compensation for descendants of slaves. The manner of compensation has varied, from sending out sums of money to the country's 34 million blacks, to increased funding for predominantly black schools.
A powerful core of civil rights and class-action lawyers, which includes Johnnie Cochran Jr., is now preparing a lawsuit seeking reparations for American blacks descended from slaves -- the undisclosed amount being sought is said by some to be near a trillion dollars.
A date for filing the action has not been confirmed. Other movements demanding reparations have progressed slowly, gaining stature during the past decade.
One of the most prominent has been the National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America, known as N'COBRA, which was formed in 1988. The following year, Rep. John Conyers Jr., Michigan Democrat, introduced a bill calling for a committee to study the effects of slavery.
The bill has foundered in committee each session since.
Mr. Conyers did not return phone calls for comment.
N'COBRA treasurer Kalonji Olusegun said yesterday that Mr. Jackson's entry into the debate could give the movement important momentum and place the issue at the forefront of American politics.
"His joining of this issue is an indication of the snowballing effect that has occurred in the past year and a half," Mr. Olusegun said. "It has been very difficult for this country to know that it is based on white supremacy."
Eleven cities have so far passed resolutions to study the impact of slavery; the wording of several of those resolutions was based on Mr. Conyers' bill.
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) has called for a study on reparations since 1991. The Washington office of the NAACP has also lobbied for progress on Mr. Conyers' bill. Mr. Jackson's entry into the fray could give all reparations efforts a boost, an official said.
"Jesse Jackson has always brought a constructive light to these issues," said NAACP legislative director Hilary Shelton. "He is masterful at articulating the issues and he comes to the table with great credibility."
But when Clara Peoples, a reparations advocate from Portland, Ore., asked Mr. Jackson for help several years ago, he rejected her request.
"He didn't pay us any mind," said Miss Peoples, who heads a movement called "Reparations -- Yes." "But we're happy to have him aboard now.
After Jackson gets his cut, you were probably closer to the correct amount in your first post. :)
He is now attempting the same thing on the US government.......
I hate to bring up race, but since race seems to be the determining factor in who gets reparations payments, I guess it's fair enough to discuss race here. What's Jesse's family tree like?
Present day descendants of slaves are often also descendants of slave-holding whites.
Some descendants of slaves have more slave-holding ancestry than many whites.The descendants wouldn't even be alive if their black and their white ancestors hadn't 'met' in North America.
Will blacks with mixed slave/slave-holder ancestry get less money than blacks with 100% slave ancestry? Will they get more?
Like I said, I hate to ask, but Jesse DID brought up the topic of race.
If Dems tout this issue, they may get 91% of the black vote, but the whites will leave in droves.
Threats of boycotts and lawsuits also generate corporate misgiving. Rev. Jesse Jackson is the most accomplished practitioner of this type of philanthropic manipulation. Example: in 1997, Jackson’s Rainbow / PUSH Coalition netted $2 million from Viacom and other communications companies by petitioning the Federal Communications Commission to block mergers and deny broadcast licenses on the basis of alleged racial discrimination.
CRC recently released a major report on Jackson and his myriad organizations. Author Patrick Reilly investigated Jackson’s tactics in the April 2001 issue of Organization Trends. He explained why they work: "Up to now, corporate leaders have found it easier to make quiet contributions to Jackson’s nonprofits than to engage him in public battles." In recent years, Jackson’s principal vehicle for corporate fundraising has been the Wall Street Project—a New York
City office sponsored by his 501(c)(3) Citizenship Education Fund (CEF). The Project pressures major companies, particularly financial-services firms, into accepting racial preferences in hiring and making investments favored by Jackson. More often than not, Jackson’s corporate targets cooperate and sponsor his organizations or his allies along the way. Thus CEF benefits directly from the Wall Street Project and from similar operations in Chicago, Cleveland, Los Angeles, and Silicon Valley.
Reilly exposes several companies duped by Jackson’s shakedown. The rash of telecommunications mergers in 1999 was particularly lucrative for Jackson’s operation. These companies would rather pay a toll to Jackson than risk his interference before the public and the FCC:
- AT&T gave $425,000 to CEF in 1999 after Jackson withdrew his opposition to AT&T’s merger with TCI. AT&T subsequently hired two companies associated with Jackson to manage billions of dollars in bond offerings. Both bond-managers turned out to be donors to CEF.
- Jackson endorsed the SBC-Ameritech merger, but only after both companies gave CEF $500,000. Jackson previously opposed the merger.
- Bell Atlantic donated $1 million to Jackson groups after Jackson publicly endorsed the GTE-Bell Atlantic merger into Verizon. The new company also pledged $300,000 to Jackson’s groups over three years.
Of course, Jackson’s own personal and financial scandals might make him a less attractive prospect for corporate philanthropy. Yet his model lives on. His former protégé, Rev. Al Sharpton, and others already emulate him. Jackson’s past success only demonstrates how pliant companies can be when they wish to avoid criticism.
Oh, I agree with that completely. If you've been following this debate then you will have noted that leaders of the black community have been saying that reparations will be used to pay for education and to improve the inner cities. IOW, this money will go to the usual suspects such as Jackson to spend rather than the average black.
Several reasons for this have been given. First, some black leaders have said this is to ensure the money is well spent - they're democrats after all. Second, it puts money in the hands of the black leaders such as Jackson solidifying their power. Another reason, not often cited by black leaders is this. Suppose my number of $28,500 is correct. Now consider your average community where the black family living next to non-minorities are given $100,000 in reparations. Imagine the reaction from their neighbors when they realize that their taxes just went up to pay for their neighbors new Lexus. Or when these neighbors realize the new members of their community just bought their house using their tax dollars. This is a perfect recipe for racial tension.
The whole point of the thread is what Jesse Jackson is doing. I'm not sure of anything about you so I'll ask: Do you remember "racialism". It was where whites couldn't adopt black children (circa late 1980's). It even ticked off white liberals. What he is trying now is about 10 times worse for the Dems.
My only doubt is if the media will let him make an issue of it that will hurt the Dems.
Other companies could learn from Walmart's hard stance when it comes to the almost daily attempts at extortion from thieves such as JJ in America today.
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