Essence.com recently did an article with Jesse Jackson. In the article they asked Rev. Jackson specific questions about the Presidential Race particularly on the Democratic side. Here are some of the higlights from that interview:
Essence.com: In South Carolina, the Democratic campaign took a negative turn with charges and countercharges of injecting race, yet the numbers are indicating that there was a record turnout. Clearly, South Carolina voters weren’t completely turned off by the tone of the race in the final days.
Reverend Jesse Jackson: They were inspired by it.
Essence.com: As somebody who was born in South Carolina, what do you think about the way African-American voters were portrayed by the media leading up to the primary? For example, they started talking about the barbershop and the beauty shop vote. Do you have any problem with the way South Carolina voters were portrayed?
J.J: No. My concern is that while focusing on the color of the vote, they were not focusing on Black issues and substance. For example, student debt—I think student loans are like a billion dollars. The disparity between Black and White student loans is alarming. The great disparities in infant mortality and life expectancy—great disparities.The income disparity… The college enrollment disparities… The largest industry in that state is no longer cotton. It’s the jail-industrial complex. There’s 24 state prisons in South Carolina and only one state college, South Carolina State. So we are free, but not equal. We live in one America under one flag, but there are some structural inequalities. Stop focusing so much on the color of our vote and start focusing on the substance of our situation.
Essence.com: Do you think that there is such a thing as a candidate being able to transcend race?
J.J: Of course not. You can’t transcend who you are. That’s very spiritual, isn’t it? The racial issue is too serious to ignore, and it is too immoral to ignore, but it is an opportunity for healing. Racial justice is the key to social justice, and that’s the key to America. America’s moral dilemma is how it relates to matters of racial justice. Racial justice precedes racial reconciliation. Once Barack had to start spending more time in Black churches and fight more openly for the Black vote, it did not run white people away of goodwill. He still got 25 percent of the White vote. When Jimmy Carter ran, he had to tell southern Whites, “If you want me to be president, I have to reach out to Blacks at Ebenezer Church. You’re my ally, but I can’t win with just southern Whites. I need Blacks.” In some sense, Barack’s allies must say that to win, you’re going to need Whites, so you’ve got to build that coalition on what I call common ground issues.
Essence.com: It’s interesting that you say that, because I’m a younger voter. I’m a blogger and a lot of bloggers are saying that they are so turned off, and they are so irate about how the Clintons are treating Barack Obama that they absolutely will not vote for her if she wins the nomination.
J.J: That means that they’re going to vote for some anti–civil rights Republicans, who’s going to further stack the Supreme Court. And they’re going to vote for some anti–affirmative action Republicans. So you have to be mature in this process. You have to think this thing through. Politics also comes down to options. In this marathon race, you have to be walking through a storm and thinking at the same time. Barack has my vote. My point is that when it’s over, the two of them and the others who ran must close ranks because you cannot beat the right wing unless you do.
Essence.com: Well, then, does it annoy you at all that people are somehow portraying Barack Obama as the first credible Black candidate or the first Black candidate with a chance to win? I know many people in my generation thought, erroneously, that he was the first Black man to win a state primary when you have won eleven.
J.J: That’s the job of ESSENCE and other media—to educate so we will know better. We’ll do better when we know better. We talk about Black history and all of that. In ’64 we were leading a demonstration outside the convention trying to get a seat in Mississippi. The next year we had the Voting Rights Act of 1965. It’s a nonstop battle. This is the evolution of our struggle. This is not something new. This is something wonderful; it’s not new. This is the evolution of our struggle; we must keep putting it into context.
Essence.com: Do you think that in your lifetime you will see an African- American woman win eleven primaries or caucuses?
J.J: She has to run first. You can’t ask the question that way. You’ll never know what’s possible until you put the pedal to the metal. They have to run. They have to go for it. You can’t guess that. You have to work for it. There are qualified Black women who can do that, to answer that question. There are Black women who are qualified, but you have to take the risks, do the work and take the hits because politics is a contact sport. (Source)
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