Jackson stresses the 'struggle is not over'; takes on Bush, Powell

Athens (GA) Banner-Herald ^ | 10.21.02 | Lee Shearer

[mhking]

The Rev. Jesse Jackson was the keynote speaker at the closing convocation celebrating the 110th anniversary of the Greater Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church on Sunday evening.
R.C. Rique/Staff</mcc CREDIT> 

Jackson stresses the 'struggle is not over'
Civil Rights leader takes on Bush

By Lee Shearer
lshearer@onlineathens.com

   The Rev. Jesse Jackson didn't use the harsh words of Harry Belafonte to describe U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell when he spoke in Athens Sunday, but he told his audience to be clear on one thing about Powell.
   ''He's not on our team,'' Jackson told a packed house at Greater Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church, which celebrated its 110th anniversary Sunday. ''If he wins, Trent Lott wins. We're not on that team. If he wins, we lose. If he wins, poor folks lose.''
   But Jackson's aside on Belafonte -- the singer last week called Powell the Bush administration's ''house slave'' -- was just a part of Jackson's criticism of the Bush administration, which he said is using an exaggerated threat from a country that might get nuclear weapons -- Iraq -- as an ''election trick'' to divert attention away from the county's mounting economic woes.
   ''Here we are today victimized by a stolen election that's turned into a mandate for war,'' said Jackson, reminding his audience that it was Al Gore, not Bush, who got more votes in the 2000 presidential election.

</mcc PHOTO>
 Jackson used the occasion to explain his take on the Bush administration to an audience of nearly 200 people who showed their support throughout the entire evening.</mcc CAPTION>
R.C. Rique/Staff</mcc CREDIT> 

   ''Bush is using a war to divert our attention from the economy and drive us by fear, and not lead us by hope,'' said Jackson, founder and president of the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition.
   In two years under Bush, a $3.5 billion federal budget surplus has turned into a $20 billion deficit; poverty rates have climbed and family income has gone down; people have lost trillions of dollars in value from their pension and 401-K plans; funding for Medicare, public education and Bush has yet to meet even once with the NAACP, he said.
    When Bush was of military service age, he ''was dodging war,'' but now that ''he's waging war -- with your children,'' Jackson said.
   Racism is alive and well in the United States, said Jackson, pointing to the latest criminal proceeding involving Florida Gov. Jeb Bush's daughter.
   Caught with illegal drugs a third time, the president's niece got a 10-day jail term.
   

 Congregation members show their support for the Rev. Jesse Jackson while he spoke at the closing convocation celebrating the 110th anniversary of the Greater Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church on Sunday evening.</mcc CAPTION>
R.C. Rique/Staff 

''She deserves love, compassion and treatment. But then your son and daughter deserve the same love, compassion and treatment,'' Jackson told his predominantly black audience, citing statistics showing while most people who are arrested are white, most who go to prison are black.
   But the struggle isn't about race -- it's about poverty, and about everyone, Jackson said.
   ''The Civil Rights struggle is not over, and it's for everybody. Most poor people are white, they're female, and they work every day,'' he said.
    But he also said many African-Americans have forgotten and don't appreciate the sacrifices made by people like Martin Luther King, Jr., who died in his effort to get civil rights for African Americans.
   One of those rights is the right to vote -- yet 600,000 African American Georgians are not registered, he said.
   ''Brother King was killed over the right to vote and you don't even register? And now we got the right to go to school and have to beg somebody to get off the TV? Involuntary slavery is illegal, but to volunteer is legal,'' he said.
   

Published in the Athens Banner-Herald on Monday, October 21, 2002.

[hattend]

When Jesse "Misery Merchant" Jackson goes into these churches and starts Democratic Party recruiting, why don't these churches lose their tax-exempt status?

That old ACLU Church and state nonsense...doncha know.

[Houmatt]

The struggle is over. And so is Jesse.

He shows up in Athens, Georgia, and it looks like the only news outlets to cover it were the local ones.

That tells me, more or less, the media that placed him on his pedestal has now begun to look away from him. And, when that happens, you are finished.

[mhking]

He shows up in Athens, Georgia, and it looks like the only news outlets to cover it were the local ones.

There wasn't a single blip on the local news here in Atlanta, even though we're only 50 miles away. If something happens in Athens, generally, we'll hear about it.

No matter - I was more interested in watching Michael Vick and the Falcons yesterday, anyhow...

[M Kehoe]

The "cat in the hat' stikes back. T'is always entertaining to hear what Mr. Pork Chop has to say.

Has jesse booked a flight to 'Rhodesia' yet.

Laughing as I typed that.

5.56mm

[M Kehoe]

stike=strike. Sheesh.

5.56mm

[mafree]

I ain't on your team either Je$$e.

[kcvl]

Americans United For Seperation of Church and State


http://www.au.org/speakers.htm


Barry Lynn
AU Executive Director

Rob Boston
AU Assistant Director of Communications

[kcvl]

Staying Clear of Political Activities

One absolutely prohibited activity for churches is partisan politicking. Churches and other religious 501(c) 3 groups cannot “participate or intervene in (including the publishing or distributing of statements), any political campaign on behalf of (or in opposition to) any candidate for public office.”

Candidates include any person seeking public office at the federal, state or local level in the U.S. or elsewhere, whether the candidate has formally announced his or her intentions or is merely taking actions that effectively put them in the running for office. This includes when the minister of that church is a candidate for office.

Avoid:

• Allowing any declared political candidate to use your church for any purpose other than a non-partisan candidates forum to which all candidates are invited.
• Allowing a candidate to use a church function to meet and greet parishioners.
• Introducing in worship any person who is a declared political candidate and mentioning the fact.
• Using the church to advocate for or against any political issue that is clearly identified with one candidate over another (i.e. telling parishioners to oppose any candidate who supports the lottery in an election where one candidate is pro-lottery and another anti-lottery would constitute an endorsement).
• Distributing voter guides that imply that one candidate is more favorable than another.
• Contributing or soliciting contributions to any organization engaged primarily in political activity or for any candidate or political party.

Churches are prohibited from ever endorsing or decrying any candidate at any time; this regulation prohibits even mentioning a candidate in an advertisement during the critical time period prior to an election or primary.

[RIGHT IN SEATTLE]

"F" that Jaca$$!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Let's Roll]

"Jus' keep those checks and dollars comin' in, brothers and sisters."

[kcvl]

If you have information about an individual or company you suspect is not complying with the tax law, please call 1-800-829-0433.

http://www.irs.gov/localcontacts/index.html