Tuesday, October 7, 1997
Jackson had a dream …
RALLY: Speaker brings back age-old themes of racial unity in
schools
By Mason Stockstill
Daily Bruin Contributor
Students who walked along Bruin Walk on Monday witnessed a scene
that hearkens back to the days of the civil-rights movement of the
1960s.
Historical references ranging from the Civil War to the ’60s-era
civil-rights movement peppered the speech of the Rev. Jesse
Jackson, as he spoke to a crowd of more than 500 students Monday
afternoon.
Jackson was the keynote speaker at the "rally for diversity"
sponsored by various campus law-student associations, which took
place at noon in Meyerhoff Park.
Other speakers included USAC President Kandea Mosley and law
professor Cruz Reynoso.
Technical difficulties marred the beginning of the event, but
all the equipment worked fine when Mosley got up to offer a
scathing condemnation of current policy toward education,
particularly at the elementary level.
"There has been no mention of the dilapidated conditions in
which California’s urban schools have been left to rot," she
said.
Later, Reynoso greeted students with a recollection of his days
at Boalt Hall, UC Berkeley’s law school.
"I was the only Latino in my graduating class," he said. "There
were no African Americans. There was one Asian American and three
women" in the class of 1958.
After Reynoso finished, an outpouring of applause greeted
Jackson, the final speaker. The crowd instantly became silent upon
his first words.
Jackson first thanked the other speakers and the event
organizers, and immediately delved into the topic at hand.
"We must stand together to preserve the dream," Jackson said.
"The dream is one of America as one big tent" – one big tent that
includes people of all ethnicities and genders.
Jackson’s main target was California’s Proposition 209, passed
last November, which bars all consideration of ethnicity and gender
in state hiring practices.
Jackson concluded that Proposition 209 was an issue of states’
rights, drawing parallels between California’s situation and past
instances of segregation in Alabama and Missouri.
"We call upon President Clinton to stand tall and assert that
the law is wrong," he said, "and assert the authority of the
federal government over the state."
Jackson also compared Gov. Wilson to George Wallace, the former
governor of Alabama. In 1963, Wallace barricaded the entrance to
public schools in protest of desegregation policies.
Jackson expounded upon other topics that had a direct effect on
diversity, including destruction of bilingual education and other
issues that he considered to have an anti-immigrant emphasis.
"Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses," he said,
quoting the inscription at the base of the Statue of Liberty.
"Contrast (the message given by) the Statue of Liberty with
building a wall between America and Mexico," he continued,
referring to a remark by 1996 presidential candidate Pat Buchanan,
urging the erection of such a fence.
Jackson ended his speech by involving the audience in a
call-and-answer, a tradition long favored by black ministers.
"This land is our land," the crowd chanted along with Jackson.
"Keep hope alive."
Jackson urged all those in attendance to join him and others in
marching to Sacramento on Oct. 27, to show opposition to state
policies dismantling affirmative action.
In an age when marches and demonstrations are considered by many
to be anachronistic, Jackson believes that such actions can still
be relevant.
"Mass education and mass action will always win," he said. "We
will always prevail when we are morally right."