Jesse Jackson continues accusatory rhetoric

The day after Vice President Al Gore said in his concession speech
that he will "unconditionally" honor the new president-elect, Rev. Jesse
Jackson and his staff continued to make serious allegations that black
voters were "disenfranchised" on Nov. 7.

Moreover, a spokeswoman for Jackson told WorldNetDaily that the
disenfranchisement was "a strategic plan put into place seven years, 11
months ago."

The statement comes at a time when both candidates are striving to
bring Americans together after what many consider to have been a bitter
and divisive presidential campaign. That divisiveness is evidenced in
remarks made by Jackson, including his assertion Monday that a pro-Bush
ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court would "simply create a civil rights
explosion. People will not surrender to the tyranny."

On Wednesday,

Jackson clarified his earlier statement, saying, "When the Supreme Court issues a ruling calculated to deal a setback to the causes of civil rights in this country, the people respond." He compared the 5-4 decision to the 1857 Dred Scott case in which the court ordered Scott, who had petitioned for freedom, to remain a slave. Jackson also compared the pro-Bush decision to Plessy v. Ferguson, in which the court made its historic "separate but equal" declaration.

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"In the wake of those decisions, people of conscience set their own precedent," Jackson continued. "They took it upon themselves to fight for their principles and gradually, this righteous, non-violent movement won out."

"When the right ingredients are present, and the fuse is lit, an explosion happens. In this case, the explosion took the form of a massive, nationwide, grass-roots struggle to end legal segregation and ensure the right to vote for all citizens. These rights are gradually being eroded away, as evidenced by the violations of the Voting Rights Act that took place in Florida," Jackson alleged.

Keiana Peyton, spokeswoman for Jackson's

Rainbow/PUSH
Coalition, listed some of the alleged violations.

"Votes are thrown out, number one," she said. "People were turned away at the polls." Lines at the polls were "cut off" before 7 p.m., and people with misdemeanors were "denied the right to vote." There were "countless efforts to disenfranchise voters" in the 2000 election, Peyton added. "Certainly this is a strategic plan put into place seven years, 11 months ago."

In his initial statement to reporters Monday after the Supreme Court put a stay on the Florida recount effort, Jackson, who just earned his Master's of Divinity from Chicago Theological Seminary in June, said, "We've always fought back within the law -- nonviolently with discipline -- but there will be no ... surrender to tyranny." He also remarked, "We will de-legitimize [President-elect] Bush, discredit him, do whatever it takes, but never accept him."

"African-Americans were targeted in this campaign," he continued. "I believe in healing, but you cannot heal with glass in the wound."

But another high-profile black activist does not believe Jackson wants to see real racial "healing." Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson, founder and president of the

Brotherhood Organization of a New Destiny, sharply criticized Jackson's statements yesterday

"Jesse Jackson is a pathetic excuse of a leader," said Peterson. "He is an unprincipled, power-hungry, racist demagogue who is responsible for setting race relations back 50 years with his unfounded and inflammatory rhetoric. If anyone should be de-legitimized, it should be Jesse Jackson, not George W. Bush."

Jackson had also made allegations that Bush's brother, Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, "stole" the election by "intimidating" black voters. To that, Peterson responded, "Jesse Jackson is the one guilty of attempting to intimidate law-abiding citizens by threatening to take to the streets."

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Similarly, Rev. Louis Sheldon, chairman of the

Traditional Values
Coalition, wrote an editorial yesterday blasting Jackson.

"Americans, regardless of their racial background, should rise up and condemn the irresponsible comments made by Rev. Jesse Jackson after Monday's Supreme Court hearings on the Florida election," Sheldon wrote. "In his remarks to reporters, Jackson said blacks will go into the streets to do whatever it takes to discredit George W. Bush. Jackson is very close to inciting a race riot over this election."

"Those who follow Jesse Jackson should take him to task for encouraging a race riot in our nation's capital. This kind of talk does nothing but divide races and further polarize our nation," Sheldon added.

In his editorial, Sheldon quotes the historic black leader Booker T. Washington, who, Sheldon says, "wrote prophetic words about men like Jesse Jackson. He warned his fellow blacks about 'Problem Profiteers.'"

Such men are "... a class of colored people who make a business of keeping the troubles, the wrongs and the hardships of the Negro race before the public," Washington wrote. "Having learned that they are able to make a living out of their troubles, they have grown into the settled habit of advertising their wrongs -- partly because they want sympathy and partly because it pays. Some of these people do not want the Negro to lose his grievances, because they do not want to lose their jobs."

Peterson expands on Washington's decades-old statement in his new book,

"From Rage to Responsibility," in which he condemns "self-appointed" civil rights leaders for perpetuating animosity between races. Peterson is preparing to host his "Second Annual

National Day of Repudiation of Jesse Jackson," in Los Angeles on Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday.

Related story:

'The other Jesse'

Related column:

An open letter to Jesse Jackson