Posted on 09/12/2003 4:59:51 AM PDT by Arrowhead1952
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Some people visit Austin for the sights. The Rev. Jesse Jackson came for the audiences.
The official purpose of Jackson's two-day swing through Austin is a speech today to the Texas Association of African American Chambers of Commerce convention. But tell that to his scheduler.
Thursday's agenda of public events included two high school speeches and a news conference. Today's schedule runs 14 hours.
Jackson plans to cram in a breakfast and high school speech in Georgetown, a Police Department facility tour and a speech at Huston-Tillotson College tonight.
And that is just the public agenda. It does not include the meeting today with Police Chief Stan Knee and maybe Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle to discuss recent police shootings. Or the wide-ranging political talk Thursday with the Austin American-Statesman editorial board.
Or the speech to the Texas Association of African American Chambers of Commerce.
Thursday's topics ran from the international to the local to the existential, but just about all of them were political. Jackson preached self-confidence; the need to avoid drugs and violence; and the importance of voting to students at LBJ and Reagan high schools. Elsewhere, he repeatedly chastised the Bush administration for its go-it-alone foreign policy and the country's rising unemployment. Jackson said he wants to lead a march on Washington next Labor Day to push for a more jobs-friendly economic policy.
He blasted the redistricting effort at the Capitol. Linking it to the gubernatorial recall election in California and the contested 2000 court decision in the U.S. presidential election, Jackson accused Republicans of trying to destabilize democracy.
He also voiced deep skepticism about the June 14 police shooting of Jessie Lee Owens by officer Scott Glasgow. Glasgow shot Owens five times early that Saturday morning.
Police said Owens tried to flee as Glasgow conducted a traffic stop, and Glasgow fired after he became caught in the door of the Dodge Neon Owens was driving. The car had been reported stolen. Owens was unarmed.
"If someone is shot unarmed, that's murder unless you can show otherwise," Jackson said after Thursday's news conference. "It's hard to dress up being shot five times unarmed."
That shooting occurred a month before a Travis County sheriff's deputy shot and killed Lennon Johnson in East Austin. The sheriff's office has said the deputy was pulled into Johnson's car and fired the shot only after Johnson threatened to crash the car.
Sophia King, a woman with a history of mental illness, was shot and killed by Austin police officer John Coffey in June 2002 after police said she threatened the manager of an Austin Housing Authority complex manager with a knife.
All three cases involved black victims and white officers.
Jackson said the killings are part of a nationwide trend that's eroding confidence in the criminal justice system, particularly among black and Hispanic citizens.
"The police must be seen as our protectors and our servers," he said, "not occupiers."
At Reagan High, students greeted Jackson with thunderous applause and chanted "Jesse, Jesse, Jesse" in the packed school theater. Jackson noted the significance of Sept. 11, warned of the dangers of drugs and guns and emphasized the need for equal educational opportunities for all students.
"Our youth, as we fight for equal opportunity, they must avoid self-destruction, avoid the guns, the drugs, the violence," Jackson said. "And for those that are behind, they must study harder. . . . And last, they must learn to live together in a multiracial, multicultural society."
Jackson also urged students to vote and asked them sign voter registration cards that his event organizers passed out at the end of the visit.
"If someone is shot unarmed, that's murder unless you can show otherwise," Jackson said after Thursday's news conference. "It's hard to dress up being shot five times unarmed."
Sheesh! It's called Assault with a Deadly Weapon: trying to kill an Officer of the Law with an automobile.
I heard this on the news last night and this morning. The greatest racebaiter of all times praised the dims that ran to NM and called them "HEROS" for stopping the redistricting debate. He also accused Republicans of trying to destabilize democracy.
This (Rev) Jack@SS is nothing but a political hack. I wish he would STFU and go away. He in NOT a good role model for the American black youths. Anyone having a child with a woman other than his wife - well forget that idea..........
Not to worry about this. The past mayor, Gas-Gussler Garcia and the Austin Silly Counsel did that. Between UT and all the other LIBS here, we don't need any help from the rev(?) JJ. They have ruined Austin. I am glad I DO NOT live in the city anymore!
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