Reflecting on his own 1980s runs for president from the stage of the Democratic National Convention on Wednesday, Jesse Jackson predicted “if blacks register and vote in great numbers, progressive whites win.”
“It’s the only way they win,” he added. “If blacks and Hispanics vote in great numbers, women win. When women win, children win. When women and children win, mothers win.”
Jackson reminded delegates that “in this stormy season of violent campaign rhetoric, we are called to be steady in the face of the whirlwind.”
“There is a tug-of-war for America’s soul. We have a clear choice — take down walls of separation and build bridges of hope and unity,” he said. “Love must trump ignorance, and fear, and hatred and violence.”
Hillary Clinton, he argued, “can be trusted to honor the most progressive platform our party has ever had — she will never forget our pain, she will never forget us.”
“Hillary understands the extraordinary dimensions of the agony, hope and promise of Black Lives Matter. She knows about our scars and our suffering. From Trayvon Martin to Michael Brown, to Alton Sterling, and far too many others. The shootings of young black men must stop. And we deeply regret the killings of police officers with powerful assault weapons, and they resonate deep in us. Those police should be alive today. Ban on assault weapons now.”
Jackson emphasized to the DNC that “now that we’re beyond the primary, it is Super Bowl time.”
“We must all come together, and win and fight for hope, and go far by hope and not backwards by fear. This land is our land, when we all come together, red and yellow, brown, black and white. We are as precious in God’s sight. It is healing time. It’s hope time. It is Hillary time,” he said.
“I know it gets dark sometimes, but the morning cometh. The Lord is our light and our salvation. Whom shall we fear? Don’t let opposition break your spirit. It’s healing time, it’s hope time. It’s Hillary time.”
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