The Rev. Jesse Jackson will make reparations for the past enslavement of blacks his No. 1 issue this fall, an aide to the civil rights leader promised yesterday.

The 59-year-old Mr. Jackson will hold a press conference at the Rainbow/PUSH headquarters in Chicago this morning to announce details of his new campaign. "It is something new, a new priority," said Nizam Arain, acting press secretary for Mr. Jackson, who is scheduled to return tonight from the U.N. World Conference Against Racism. "It was raised and discussed at our annual convention [in August]. There are a variety of angles he intends to use, and I know that legislation is one, maybe even the top angle." Mr. Jackson stepped up his rhetoric on reparations to American blacks for slavery at the conference this week, telling a news service that "we must make crooked ways straight." "We have fewer services and less education. We are disproportionately jailed and killed by the state. We have shorter life spans. We have less access to capital," Mr. Jackson told Reuters during the event, which ended yesterday. Only one African nation, Nigeria, stated during the conference that reparations were not necessary. Mr. Jackson has had considerable success in his advocacy efforts over the years, from eliciting promises and money from corporate America to enhancing diversity programs, to getting out the black vote in record numbers. Reparations has never been a top priority for Mr. Jackson, although he has broached the subject over the years. In 1997, he and other civil rights leaders met with President Clinton in the hopes of extracting an official apology for the existence of slavery in the United States. "An apology is in order," said Mr. Jackson. "But you must not only apologize with your lips. Repent, repair and remedy go together." In 1993, Mr. Jackson called on Western nations to pay reparations to Africa. Yet he did not mention that the reparations scheme would apply to U.S. blacks. But emboldened by the acrimonious climate at the conference in South Africa this week, Mr. Jackson began making explicit references to the black community's growing push for reparations. "In many ways, Africa subsidized America and Europe's development," he told BBC Radio 4's Today program. "If you don't feel apologetic for slavery, if you don't feel apologetic for colonialism, if you feel proud of it, then say that." Mr. Jackson said that the limited U.S. involvement at the U.N. conference was due to the fear of addressing the issue of reparations. The United States withdrew its participation from the conference following numerous criticisms of Israel's role in the conflict in the Middle East. "We used the Middle East controversy as an excuse [to avoid slavery]," he said Monday. Civil rights groups have for years advocated financial compensation for descendants of slaves. The manner of compensation has varied, from sending out sums of money to the country's 34 million blacks, to increased funding for predominantly black schools. A powerful core of civil rights and class-action lawyers, which includes Johnnie Cochran Jr., is now preparing a lawsuit seeking reparations for American blacks descended from slaves -- the undisclosed amount being sought is said by some to be near a trillion dollars. A date for filing the action has not been confirmed. Other movements demanding reparations have progressed slowly, gaining stature during the past decade. One of the most prominent has been the National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America, known as N'COBRA, which was formed in 1988. The following year, Rep. John Conyers Jr., Michigan Democrat, introduced a bill calling for a committee to study the effects of slavery. The bill has foundered in committee each session since. Mr. Conyers did not return phone calls for comment. N'COBRA treasurer Kalonji Olusegun said yesterday that Mr. Jackson's entry into the debate could give the movement important momentum and place the issue at the forefront of American politics. "His joining of this issue is an indication of the snowballing effect that has occurred in the past year and a half," Mr. Olusegun said. "It has been very difficult for this country to know that it is based on white supremacy." Eleven cities have so far passed resolutions to study the impact of slavery; the wording of several of those resolutions was based on Mr. Conyers' bill. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) has called for a study on reparations since 1991. The Washington office of the NAACP has also lobbied for progress on Mr. Conyers' bill. Mr. Jackson's entry into the fray could give all reparations efforts a boost, an official said. "Jesse Jackson has always brought a constructive light to these issues," said NAACP legislative director Hilary Shelton. "He is masterful at articulating the issues and he comes to the table with great credibility." But when Clara Peoples, a reparations advocate from Portland, Ore., asked Mr. Jackson for help several years ago, he rejected her request. "He didn't pay us any mind," said Miss Peoples, who heads a movement called "Reparations -- Yes." "But we're happy to have him aboard now."

The Rev. Al Sharpton has expressed his displeasure over Jackson’s return to the spotlight so quickly after his recent scandals. ‘Why’ said Sharpton, “If Jesse would just return all of that money he spent on them Ho’s of his, we could forget about extorting money from the white folk." Jackson’s office in Chicago could not comment as they are all in Durban, at the expense of the U.S. government.

-- Niggas (in@the.news), September 07, 2001

Answers

What about black reparations to white folks for: 1) The blood shed, lives lost, bodies ruined, by white yankees during the War between the States, in an effort to free the slaves? 2) Disproportionate receipt of taxpayer transfer payments? 3) Disproportionate commission of violent crimes?

Jackson's coffers are running low. Time to stir up some quick racial strife and woe, his stock in trade. Engender hatred to turn a little green.

Jackson's time has past, if indeed it ever was current. Bye.

-- Boremania (julep@teabag.com), September 08, 2001.

What is he gonna do about the current African Nations that are engaged in slave trade? What about the Asian Slave trade? And the current Arab slave trade? Is he going to represent the people's enslaved by the Inca's, the Mayan's, and the Aztec's centuries before any honky set foot on this hemisphere? Is he going to demand justice from the African slave traders who rounded up other Africans and sold them at a profit to wealthy Africans and Europeans? We all know the answers to these, of course not! We have the money and power in the world, what better way to get what you want ( a free ride) than to stand back and scream racism! Fortunatly, like the girl who cried wolf, screaming racism will just bring howls of laughter and derision...

-- Gary (gcphelps@yahoo.com), September 08, 2001.

Jessie is the best argument out there against DC statehood. Pity.

It's all moot anyway for the Afro-Americans. The Mexican-American community drives minority interests now. Must be tough for Jessie to (in his view) get remarginalized.

-- Carlos (riffraff@cybertime.net), September 08, 2001.

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, one of the most prominent and influential blacks in the Bush administration, dismissed the idea Sunday of reparations to compensate the descendants of slaves.

"Given the fact that there's plenty of blame to go around for slavery, plenty of blame to go around among African and Arab states, plenty of blame to go around among Western states -- I think we're better to look forward, not point fingers backward," Rice said on NBC's "Meet the Press."

Rice's comments came the day after a U.N. conference on racism adopted a final declaration that cited the injustice of slavery and colonialism but recommended debt relief to African nations instead of reparations, which was considered at one point.

The U.S. and Israeli delegations walked out of the conference in Durban, South Africa, earlier in the week because of language they said equated Zionism -- the movement that led to the creation of the state of Israel -- with racism.

In the end, Israel welcomed the conference's final document because it did not include the language backed by Arab and Muslim delegates. Rice said she had not seen the document, but she said the conference "wasted" time by dwelling on the past and by trying to single out Israel for criticism.

"The sad thing is that this conference was hijacked, and it didn't deal with the agenda that it should have," Rice said.

Rice said the conference should have focused on the future. Many U.S. civil rights leaders, including Jesse Jackson, have said advancing the cause of reparations is a top priority for them. Rice disagreed with that goal.

"I would hope that we would spend our time thinking about how to educate black children, particularly black children who are caught in poverty," she said.

"I would hope that we would spend our time, as the president has said, turning back the soft bigotry of low expectations against our children.

"Slavery is more than 150 years in the past, and, of course, there's a continuing stain," Rice said.

"I've said very often, slavery was America's birth defect. It was there from the beginning. But we have to turn now to the present and to the future."

_________________________________________________________________

Jesse Jackson should retire from the public spotlight and let this woman take over as the spokesperson for the AA community.

Just My Opinion

-- Just (my@2.cents), September 10, 2001.