On a stage often used by musicians, the Rev. Jesse Jackson talked about the
“freedom symphony.”
Speaking to an enthusiastic audience of nearly 1,000 in Memorial Chapel, Jackson
compared the experience of blacks in America to a four-movement symphony. The movements,
he said, were ending slavery, ending legal apartheid, extending the right to vote to all
American citizens, and creating equal access to funds.
It is time, he said, for today's Americans to dismantle the walls that surround our
races and ethnic groups; it is time to allow those who have little access to the wealth of
capitalization the opportunity to improve their economic standing.
Students had invited Jackson to Union for Black History Month — a month, Jackson said,
that is not for blacks only. “This is the month for all of us to study American
history, to celebrate the missing dimension of American history.”
During his visit, he saw the exhibit in the Nott Memorial about Solomon Northup, a free
black man who was kidnapped and sold into slavery in the mid-nineteenth century (see story
on page xx).
Jackson's lecture was eagerly anticipated, and the chapel was jammed well before he
made his appearance. He spoke slowly at first, frequently citing statistics. Gradually,
his voice rose, he increased the repetition and rhyme, and the audience responded. It
applauded and cheered as he derided Republicans for trying to remove President Clinton
from office, criticized New York Gov. George Pataki for trying to increase spending on
prisons while reducing money for education, described his work with the Rev. Martin Luther
King, urged students to register to vote, and bemoaned the media's attention to Monica
Lewinsky while ignoring many of the problems facing the country, such as 500,000 people
dying of cancer each year.
Again and again, he returned to his theme — “move beyond color to
character.”
Speaking the night after he had watched the Superbowl with President Clinton, Jackson
asked, “Why could whites in rural Georgia, with its background of racial injustice,
root for black players to knock down a white quarterback from Denver?”
The answer. he said, was that football had a level playing field — the kind that must
exist if blacks and other minorities are to overcome the “original American sin”
of slavery. “Whenever the playing field is even and the rules are public, we can move
to the next level, where bridges replace walls,” he said.
Jackson concluded by urging his audience to “keep hope — keep hope alive.”
After a standing ovation, he answered questions, including one from a student who asked
what Jackson thought college students could do to achieve a more racially-equal society.
The college generation, he said, needs to broaden its sensitivity and experiences to
appreciate the lives of those who are less fortunate. “Life will give each of us a
chance to change the world,” he said. “We have many opportunities to make a
contribution.”
And to the question of whether he would run for president in 2000, Jackson said he
hadn't decided, although he is determined to help set public policy. “While I have
not decided to enter the race, I have decided to set the pace.”
After the lecture, Jackson attended a reception in the Nott Memorial, where he shook
hands and signed autographs for dozens of enthusiastic students.