And I'm the only one who took notes! Wooohg.
Wearing all white, I was well prepared for the day (kinda...). Unfortunately, next to my friends (each wearing all black
) I looked especially out of place. However, I was placed in the far back... d'oh well.
J. Jackson came to my school yesterday, Friday 19th.
Here's a complete walkthrough of what went down, personally made for GT (beware of its length):
- Principal read a biography of Jesse Jackson for a good 20 minutes or so... talking of his achievements and so forth.
- The Reverend announces the birth of his Grandson, Jesse Jackson III
- He starts with September 11th and the story about a bombing in Alabama 40 years ago at a church, where young black girls died (I assume it's the one where the KKK was involved... and yes, I'll be saying black, not African American because JJ never once said African American).
- JJ then requests students to stand pertaining to the following questions: How many knew someone who died of Drug use? Jailed due to drug use(laughs in crowd)? Trying drugs (laughs in crowd)? Someone who brought a gun to school (then relates that to Columbine)? Has talked of suicide? This all then leads to a prayer.
- He "challenges" to connect St. Joseph to China, Mexico, Australia... and Benton Harbor O_o.
- "We live in a Rainbow World". Then advises us to seek for allies of black, hispanic, and other races. "Many Faces, Many Places"
- The Reverend then pulls out facts ranging from "1/2 of all humans are Asian"... 1/4 are African. Then he goes into how we make up about 1/3 of our hemisphere, yet 2/3 speak "hispanic". Finally, he tops off his thought by saying Jesus didn't speak English.
- Yellow, Brown, Black, non-Christian, Female, those who don't speak English, and the poor all happen to live in our world... a "Rainbow World".
- It is a world of challenges, he says, and America was born in slavery and separation. He also continues for awhile saying that America had to unlearn bad lessons (and unlearn keeping women and blacks from voting).
- For some reason, he goes back to self-destructive drugs and suicide very, very briefly.
- Jesse Jackson next says that America would not have won the Olympics if not for the women, blacks, and latino. We must "build a great team"
- He describes how France is for French, Britain is for British... and then asks what America is for. He says that the American dream is to be for everyone.
- "Many Faces, Many Places, Many Races"
- "America is a liberal ideal", I believe he had said. Then he talks of opportunities. Would we give up our life? How would we achieve our dreams? ...Are questions he asks.
- Then, for a fairly unknown reason, he says that we cannot find Cave Man (I assume he means bin Laden), lost soldiers in Iraq, can't find weapons or Al Qaeda.
- America cannot be distant from other countries, and not divided by oceans or rivers (referring to our activity in other nations around the world, such as Iraq). He says it is our "world challenge".
- America is blessed with education and industrial strength. We lead the world by visions and values, not guns.
- He then goes back in time and recalled being jailed while trying to use a public library. He elaborates a bit and talks about other restrictions during that "time period".
- We "did not know how sports would be until everybody could play" is basically what he says next. Then, he mentions the Notre Dame vs University of Michigan game not long back (which got mixed reviews from the crowd). Rev. Jackson talks about how the team members could not choose their team based on their race, that it is an equal playing field.
- Elaborating on the equal playing field, JJ voices his fight to make an equal playing field for schools, jobs, health care, and hope/dreams.
- Jesse Jackson pulls out a scenario of sorts.
...There is a newsbreak of a fire nextdoor. You know your nextdoor neighbor and how he is a smoker and a drinker... that he probably was lazy and started the fire. He's a bad person, and you're a good person. However, when the wind blows, your goodness does not save you from the fire.
- Which he then stretches into (and makes the room repeat) "None of use are secure until all of us are secure"
- "You are not your brother's keeper, but your brother's brother"
- He briefly goes back to Iraq and football saying that we need eachother in the warzone of Iraq and on the football field.
- Jobs are going down, and tuition is going up (private schools and colleges/universities, I assume) he states, then says "We all are under one big tent". Possibly means that everyone has the same problems in this sense.
- He promotes building character and being strong.
- "America is best when young America is alive"
- Young America was alive during the strong civil rights movements, he says.
- Measure character not by the person's accumulation, but by the person's sharing... which somehow turned into "I've never seen a U-Haul attached to a Hearse." You can take from that whatever you want... I suppose
- Learn to play ball together, heal together, and learn together, he says.
- He then goes into another scenario of sorts:
...Two seeds with the same strength are planted. Then a wall is placed between them and both are watered equally (alright, this is sounding like Benton Harbor/St. Joe). One grows tall with fruit, and the other does not grow tall and does not have a lot of fruit. It is because of something called "Photosynthesis", he says. Build bridges and tear down the wall to make a stronger nation.
- Back to "Listen to your voices. Say no to drugs." You can't choose short pleasure and long pain, the reverend tells us.
- Go beyond your comfort zone, he starts... and leads into a story:
...A man was walking down the street when he was robbed and left to die, but a good guy came to help him.
While lying there (he makes sure to stop and say the beaten man is a victim, not a hero), he sees a Rabbi or Minister with bible at hand, but the Minister just goes to the other side of the street. Then, he sees a man of the same ethnicity as himself... but that man also went to the other side of the street. And finally, a man from another country... a man that does not yet even have his green card picks him up and puts him on his donkey (I swear, I believe he did say that) and carries him to the hospital. "It is care and character that makes us different."
- He then talks of the riot in LA over Rodney King, who was beaten by white cops. But, there was a white photographer (George Holiday) that could've left the scene,yet he took pictures and spread the terrible story to make it public. He "went beyond color", and built a bridge. Next he talks of the buildings burned and the white man in a truck (as seen on tv) who was beaten by four black men, until more black men came to help the man in the truck. The men who saved him were also beyond color.
- "Character will make us build a bridge between St. Joe and Benton Harbor"
- The Reverend goes into how most poor people do work. He elaborates a bit, but it's not too important
- We must make a more perfect union, he suggests
- "Hope over Dope" is the only thing I can take out of his last few sentences, as he's getting pretty excited. But, he finishes with "God Bless You" and gets a standing ovation.
- Buuut, he's not done. He states that he hopes that one day, we (the students of St. Joseph High School) will go to Benton Harbor, and vice verse, to walk in eachother's shoes. "Build and Care"
- The trip from home to school and school to home is not even." I believe he says, not knowing what he means.
- (yay, and now the start of one of my favorite parts) "You must vote and register," Jesse Jackson says. Every vote counts. He then goes into examples, like Nixon and others... each being about 500,000 or so votes ahead of their competitor "Every vote counts". Then, with Bush Jr. against Gore "He won by 167 votes, or something like that". This is funny because JJ is a hardcore democrat and even went to Florida during the recounts to help out Gore.
- He detours into how Jails are built for "Young America". It is our world, and we need to be responsible.
- Back to voting... He asks all who are at least 17 and 10 months old to stand up if they have not registered to vote. It's about a good twenty... Then, he requests that they come down to the stage and register right away, making sure to get someone's attention if he saw that person sit down immediately.
- So, while they are registering, he advertises a rally that would take place later during the day at 6:30 over at Benton Harbor.
- He plans to help use build a two-way bridge to make St. Joseph/Benton Harbor a safer place.
- Finally he talks about how Bush Sr. won almost all of the white votes, yet Bill Clinton won the "Black votes and Brown votes". I guess it's to show that the minorities have a voice too.
------------------------------------------
Question Time
Jesse Jackson was asked six questions after he started the Q.A. section of his speech. I'm not going to take the time to write down his full answers right now, but readers at GT can feel free to "request" the full answer if they are interested. However, I will put the beginning of his answer to one question because it was rather hilarious.
Q. What was your intention of the march from Benton Harbor to St. Joe?
A.
Q. How did you feel about the Benton Harbor Riots? Did you support them?
A.
Q. As students of St. Joseph, what would you like us to do to help Benton Harbor?
A.
Q. What political accomplishment are you most proud of?
A.
Q. What are your feelings toward the war in Iraq?
A. "I hope the Cubs win!"
(not full answer, but the start)
Q. Did you always want to be a civil rights activist?
A.
And that's that. I'll fill in the answers upon request... but I'm too lazy to do it now ¦¬Þ. I hope that some of you political GTers enjoy this, however.
Jesse Jackson comes to school (complete)
Linear Mode
