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CHARLESTON SHOOTINGS REFLECT TERRORISM - NOT ITS ORIGINS
NEEDED: A WH Conference On Racial Justice Racism Deserves A Remedy
June 18, 2015, Chicago, IL -- Reverend Jesse L. Jackson, Sr. -- Not unlike the four little girls killed in a church
bombing in Birmingham, Alabama in 1963, today the nation and the world are saddened and outraged at the
hatred and senseless killing of nine African Americans in the historic Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South
Carolina including its pastor and a state senator. Over three decades ago Operation PUSH held its national
convention centered in this church and I did two televised Firing Line interviews with William F. Buckley there.
And, not unlike the economic and political context of Birmingham, the nation and its leadership are still failing
to see, understand and come to grips with the underlying economic and political circumstances that led to such
a tragedy. This young white man, whoever he is, did not originate terrorism. He is merely reflecting decades
and centuries of institutional and active political terrorism. There were 164 lynching's of African Americans
between 1877 and 1950 in South Carolina.
The shooting in Charleston is the result and the product of a protracted political genocide resulting from
institutionalized racism, centuries of dehumanization and the current denial of economic and political equality
of opportunity. Today everyone is outraged at the killings, but there is not the same outrage that African
Americans are number one in infant mortality, in life expectancy, in unemployment, in cheap wages, in access to
capital and denial of bank loans, in imprisonment, in segregated housing and home foreclosures, in segregated
and underfunded public schools, in poverty, in heart disease, liver disease, diabetes, mental health issues,
HIV/AIDS and the lack of access to health care and more. We ignore this institutionalized state of terror and the
resulting racial fears at our peril.
There is an urgency to identify and arrest this individual before he hurts anyone else, but there is not the same
urgency to identify and arrest the current economic and political conditions the institutional racism and
structural injustices before anyone else gets hurt. Today in South Carolina, a historically Black university,
South Carolina State, is on the verge of closing, but I dont see the same urgency to save it by the Governor and
the South Carolina legislature. Gov. Nikki Haley appropriately asked South Carolinians to pray for the victims
and their families of these killings and decried violence at religious institutions, but she denies poor people
access to health care by refusing to accept Medicaid monies under the Affordable Care Act - which is
jeopardizing the economic viability of the states hospitals and costing South Carolinians thousands of jobs - and
she still flies the Confederate Flag on the Capitol grounds.
But these injustices and indifferences are not just limited to South Carolina. Theyre national in scope! We need
a White House Conference on racial justice and urban policy to make sure no one else is being hurt because of
economic, political and leadership indifference or lack of vision of what needs to be done! Racism deserves a
remedy.
The Charleston police chief said, We will put all effort, we will put all resources and we will put all of our
energy into finding this individual who committed this crime tonight." We need the President, the Congress, the
50 Governors and state legislatures to put the same effort, resources and energy into ending the crime of racism,
economic injustice and political denial throughout the nation. Weve had enough Michael Brown, Eric Garner,
Tamir Rice and Walter Scott killings. Weve had enough infant mortality deaths. Weve had enough
unemployment always at least twice the rate of Whites.
Weve had enough of segregated and inadequately funded educational opportunities. Weve had enough lack of
access to capital. Weve had enough lack of access to health care. Weve had enough of homelessness and home
foreclosures. We need prayer and we need hope, but we also need a political commitment and a financial budget
committed to ending this protracted political genocide.
We need leadership with a vision for racial justice. We need an investment for economic justice the current
rising tide hasnt lifted all boats. And we need fairness in political representation. Thats what we need if we
are ever going to put an end to the protracted political genocide of which African Americans have been the
victims for nearly 400 years in the United States. We deserve equal economic and political opportunity. We
deserve equal justice under the law.
As the AP reported, the Emmanuel AME church is a historic African-American church that traces its roots to
1816, when several churches split from Charleston's Methodist Episcopal church. One of its founders, Denmark
Vesey, tried to organize a slave revolt in 1822. He was caught, and white landowners had his church burned in
revenge. Parishioners worshipped underground until after the Civil War.
-30Rainbow PUSH Coalition is a multi-racial, multi-issue, progressive, international organization that was formed in December 1996 by the
Reverend Jesse L. Jackson, Sr. through merging of two organizations he founded Operation PUSH People United to Serve Humanity (estab.
1971) and the Rainbow Coalition (estab. 1984). With headquarters in Chicago and offices in Washington, D.C., Atlanta, Detroit, Los Angeles,
New York and Oakland, the organization works to make the American Dream a reality for all citizens while advocating for peace and justice
around the world. RPC is dedicated to improving the lives of all people by serving as a voice for the voiceless. Its mission is to protect, defend
and gain civil rights by leveling the economic and educational playing fields while promoting peace and justice around the world.
Get Informed & Be Social with PUSH!
Keep up with Rev. Jackson and the work of the Rainbow PUSH Coalition at [Link].