In March 1965, 24-year-old Jesse Jackson joined the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and hundreds of others as they marched on Selma, Ala., in protest of the state’s racist voting laws.
Many, including a future congressman, John Lewis of Georgia, were beaten by police during the 18-day protest, but their actions led to the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. While their victory was historic, Jackson now says they had no idea how fragile it was.
FURTHER READING: Rep. John Lewis: From Selma to Congress
“We didn’t understand the chains of voter suppression,” Jackson said in a telephone interview with Street Roots’ sister street paper in Chicago, StreetWise.
More than five decades after securing the right to vote, Jackson and other civil rights leaders are fighting to defend it. In the 2013, Shelby v. Holder decision, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that key provisions of the landmark law requiring federal oversight of voting practices in states and municipalities with histories of discrimination in voting were unconstitutional because these provisions did not reflect the less restricted landscape since the Voting Rights Act was enacted.
Jackson said the decision allowed Republicans to manipulate the electoral map via gerrymandering. Since then, many states have also enacted voter ID laws and closed hundreds of voting precincts. In the 2016 election, there were 868 fewer precincts across the U.S., according to the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights.
“They fought to remove the protections for 40 years,” Jackson said. “The Shelby decision undercut the Selma decision. They removed the protections, and gerrymandering started all over again.”
Despite President Trump’s claims that millions voted illegally, costing him the popular vote, in-person voter fraud “very rarely happens,” according to a report from the Brennan Center for Justice.
“Voter fraud is a fraud,” Jackson said. “Voter suppression is real.”
Since the Supreme Court’s decision, 33 states have passed laws requiring some form of identification to vote. November marked the first election in 50 years without the full protections of the Voting Rights Act.
Jackson said that voter suppression in several states, though not all with voter ID laws, was responsible for Trump’s defeat of Hillary Clinton.
“Hillary lost not by the Russian hack but because of voter suppression in North Carolina and Philadelphia and Detroit and Milwaukee,” Jackson said. “They suppress the black vote and elevate the white vote.”
In Detroit, there were 75,000 ballots that “didn’t have the top of the ticket marked,” Jackson said — blank presidential votes. Voting precincts were also closed in North Carolina.
On May 11, Trump signed an executive order creating a commission on voter fraud and suppression.
“The Commission on Election Integrity will study vulnerabilities in voting systems used for federal elections that could lead to improper voter registrations, improper voting, fraudulent voter registrations, and fraudulent voting,” the White House said in a statement. “The Commission will also study concerns about voter suppression, as well as other voting irregularities. The Commission will utilize all available data, including state and federal databases.”
Shortly after the commission was announced, Jackson released a statement giving Trump credit for getting it at least half right by considering voter suppression, “which is an accomplishment of sorts, considering the administration’s track record,” Jackson said.
Jackson said that if referees handled the NBA finals the way we handle voting, it wouldn’t be tolerated.
“No one wants an unfair ballgame,” Jackson said. “They want good, honest referees.
“We put more integrity on a basketball game than we do on voting,” Jackson said. “There should be integrity on both.”
FURTHER READING: Al Sharpton: Black community vulnerable to voting-rights threats
One way to restore the integrity to voting is to pass laws that would automatically register voters as soon as they turn 18, Jackson said in a recent column for the Chicago Sun-Times. In 2015, Oregon became the first state to do this; unless they opt out, eligible voters are automatically registered when they obtain or renew a driver’s license or state ID card.
Along with efforts to suppress voters, Jackson said he also took issue with Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ plans to increase the use of private prisons.
“He wants to open up private jails and close public schools,” Jackson said. “Less voting and more prison.
“He’s a Confederate,” Jackson said. “That’s what he stands for.”
Jackson said that if King were alive today, “he would understand the backlash, what I call the ‘counter-cultural revolution.’”
“He would fight to resist it,” Jackson said. But “he would certainly not be surprised by it.
And resist is exactly what Jackson said he intends to do.
“There are two big elections this year in New Jersey and in Virginia,” Jackson said. “And next year, the entire Congress is up for re-election.”
The upcoming elections will give those who didn’t vote, and those who did and are suffering from voters’ remorse, “an opportunity to redeem themselves,” Jackson said.
Courtesy of StreetWise / INSP.ngo
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Jesse Jackson: Through the years
Jesse Jackson was born Oct. 8, 1941, in Greenville, S.C. One of his earliest efforts in activism was to desegregate the Greenville Public Library. By the mid-1960s, he was pursuing theological studies at Chicago Theological Seminary when he joined the civil rights movement alongside the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.
In 1966, King appointed Jackson to serve as the first director of Operation Breadbasket in Chicago. The organization applied theology and social justice practices to influence social and economic policy at the time. He was ordained a minister in 1968 and earned his Master of Divinity in 2000.
In 1971, three years after King’s assassination in Memphis, Tenn., Jackson founded Operation PUSH (People United to Save Humanity, later modified to People United to Serve Humanity) in Chicago and continued King’s work. The goals of Operation PUSH were economic empowerment and expanding educational, business and employment opportunities for the disadvantaged and people of color. Among its projects were a weekly radio show, reading programs for youths, and a network to protect black homeowners, workers and businesses. It also engaged in direct action campaigns to promote affirmative-action agendas and employ black workers.
In 1984, Jackson founded the National Rainbow Coalition in Washington, D.C., a social justice organization intent on political empowerment, education and changing public policy. The National Rainbow Coalition merged with Operation PUSH in 1996.
Also in 1984, Jackson campaigned on the Democratic ticket for president. He ran again in 1988.
In 1991, Jackson was elected U.S. senator for Washington, D.C. (a nonvoting member of Congress). He was a strong advocate for statehood for the nation’s capital, in addition to social and economic justice issues. He pushed voter registration campaigns and efforts to get out the vote. And he advocated for universal health care and invested in business, funding civil rights laws, equal justice for all and eliminating poverty. He also maintained a commitment to promoting the education and opportunities for youths, addressing students around the world.
In October 1997, Jackson was appointed by President Bill Clinton and Secretary of State Madeleine Albright as “Special Envoy of the President and Secretary of State for the Promotion of Democracy in Africa.” In this position, Jackson traveled to several countries in Africa and met national leaders including South African President Nelson Mandela. Over the previous decade, Jackson had acted as an international intermediary in multiple hostage situations, negotiating the release of hostages from Syria, Cuba, Kuwait and Kosovo.
On Aug. 9, 2000, Clinton awarded Jackson the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor.
June 2, 2017, Jackson came to Portland for a leadership breakfast to talk about the assault on a MAX train that left two men and another one seriously wounded after coming to the defense of two teenage girls.
Source: The Rainbow PUSH Coalition