Centre for Local Policy Studies

Message from the Reverend Jesse Jackson

Reverend Jesse L. Jackson, Sr.

President and Founder

Rainbow PUSH Coalition

I want to thank Edge Hill University, your Chancellor Dr. Tanya Brown, and especially the University’s Centre for Local Policy  and its Director, Stuart Speeden for producing this evening’s lecture.   And I am deeply grateful for the opportunity to speak at Edge Hill University last year and congratulate the first cohort of Jesse Jackson Scholars awarded by your university.  I’m sure you will be captivated by noted journalist, Gary Younge, who spans both sides of the Atlantic with his penetrating journalism and political analysis.

One can say that we are mid-day, high noon in our politics with the historic election of Barack Obama one year ago.  Electing Obama has inspired hope not just in America but around the globe. People everywhere sense the light of hope; they can beat the odds, reach to higher heights, change their countries, because we did it here.

But while it’s midday in our politics, it is midnight in our economy. In the deepest zones of pain, the light has not arrived.    And we must also not underestimate the winds of resistance seeking to undermine his agenda and direction.

The stock market is up.  The banks that have been deemed too big to fail have failed in their obligations to the rest of us.   Workers seeking jobs, businesses seeking loans, communities seeking investment, students seeking tuition grants – seem to be deemed too small to matter.  Their needs have yet to be met.  This structural inequality remains at the heart of our system.  So we need a Stimulus II, a stimulus targeting the zones of poverty and pain. We must put the money where it will directly help the people. Now.

The war escalation in Afghanistan is a risky and expensive move. We hope that he is successful, but doubts abound.  We have American cities in deep crisis and they have to hold on and wait for help, but we have a bailout for the banks and a bailout for Afghanistan. How does one reconcile that kind of allocation of resources?

President Obama has also shown himself able to do the right moral thing. Going to Egypt and talking about the importance of co-operation between all religions was a profound speech. Taking on the healthcare challenge was a difficult task, but it was morally the right thing to do.  And in that task, public pressure by progressives will be an asset to him.  At the moment progressives have been much too silent; our activism and moral voice can only be an asset to President Obama and the Congress as we all seek to take this country in the right direction.

Progressives must make our voices heard.  Just one year into office, President Obama and his administration are like a flower just planted. Give them sunlight and water to grow and bloom to their fullest potential.   Keep Hope Alive.

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