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Portland Observer, August 8, 1984 Section II Page 9 Jesse Jackson’s historic speech The Portland Observer is reprinting the full text o f Jackson's dynamic convention speech o f July 17, 1984, as a service to our readers. IN T R O D U C T IO N Tonight wc come together bound by our faith in a m ighty G o d . with genuine respect and Love for our cou ntry, and inheriting the Legacy o f a great P a rty — the D em ocratic P a rty — which is the best hope fo r re directing our nation on a more humane, just and peaceful course This is not a perfect party W e are not a perfect people Yet. we are called to a perfect mission: to feed the hungry, to clothe the naked, to house the homeless; to teach the illite ra te ; to p ro vide jobs fo r the jobless, and to choose the hum an race over the nuclear race W e are gathered here this week to nom inate a candidate and w rite a p la tfo rm w hich w ill e x pan d. unify, direct and inspire our Party and the nation to fu lfill this mission M y constituency is the dam ned, disinherited, disrespectful, despised They are restless and seek relief T h e y ’ ve voted in record numbers They have invested fa ith , hope, trust in us The Dem ocratic P a rty must send them a signal that we care I pledge m y best to not let them down T H E C A L L O F C O N S C IE N C E : R E D E M P T IO N . E X P A N S IO N . H E A L IN G A N D U N IT Y Leadership must heed the call o f conscience: Redem ption, expansion, healing and unity, for they are the key to achieving our mission Tim e is neutral and does not change things W ith courage and initiative leaders change things N o generation can choose the age or circumstances in which it is born, but through leader ship, it can choose to m ake the age in w hich it is born an age o f enlig htenm ent— an age o f jobs, peace and ju stice O n ly leadership— that intangible co m b in atio n o f g ifts , d iscipline, in fo rm a tio n , circum stance, courage, tim ing, will and divine inspiration— can lead us out o f the crisis in which we find ourselves Leader ship can m itigate the misery o f our nation. Leadership can part the waters and lead our nation in the direc tion o f the Promised Land Leadership can lift the boats stuck at the bottom I have had the rare opportunity to watch seven men, and then tw o. pour out their souls, offer their ser vice and heed the call o f duty to direct the course o f our nation There is a proper season fo r everything There is a time to sow and a time to reap There is a time to compete and a time to cooperate I ask fo r your vote on the first ballot as a vote for a new direction for this party and this nation; a vote for conscience and conviction. But I w ill be proud to support the nominee o f this convention fo r the President o f the U nited States. I have watched the leadership o f our party grow and develop M y respect for both M r M ondale and M r . H a rt is great. I have watched them struggle w ith the cross winds and cross fires o f being visible public servants, and I believe that they w ill both continue to try to serve us faith fu lly I am elated by the knowledge that fo r the first time ,n our history, a w om an. G eraldine Ferraro, w ill be recommended to share our ticket Throughout this cam paign, I have tried to offer leadership to the Dem ocratic Party and the nation I f in m y high m om ents, I have done some g oo d, o ffe re d some service, shed some lig h t, healed some wounds, rekindled some hope, stirred someone fro m apathy and indifference, or in any way helped someone along the way. then this campaign has not been in vain. For friends who loved and cared fo r me. fo r a G od w ho spared me. and for a fam ily who understood me. I am eternally grateful I f in my low moments, in word, deed, or attitude, through some error o f temper, taste or tone. I have caused anyone discom fort, created pain, or revived someone’s fears, that was not my truest self I f there were “No generation can choose the age or circumstances in which it is born, but through leadership, it can choose to make the age in which it is born an age o f enlightenment—an age ofjobs, peace and justice. ** occasions when my grape turned into a raisin and my joy bell lost its resonance, please forgive me Charge it to m y head, so lim ited in its finitude. not to m y heart, which is boundless in its love fo r the entire hum an fam ily I am not a perfect servant I am a public servant, doing my best as I develop and serve against the odds Be patient. G od is not finished with me yet This campaign has taught me much that leaders must be lough enough to fight, tender enough to cry. hum an enough to make mistakes, hum ble enough to adm it them , strong enough to absorb the pain, and resilient enough to bounce back For leaders the pain is often intense But you must smile through tears and keep moving with the faith that there is a brighter side somewhere I went to see H u bert Hu m p hrey three days before he died H e had just called Richard N ix o n fro m his dying bed. and many people wondered why I asked him H e said. ’ Jesse, fro m this vantage point, w ith the sun setting in my life, all o f the speeches, the political conventions, the crowds and the great fights are behind me now A t a time like this you are forced to deal with your irreduceable essence, forced to grapple w ith that w nisii u icaoy io yuy. A n d what I have concluded u this: when all is said and done, we m ust/ o r give each other, redeem each other, and m ove o n .” O u r party is emerging from one o f its most hard fought battles for the Democratic P a rty ’s presidential nom ination in our history But our healthy com petition should make us better, not bitter W e must use the insight, wisdom and experience of the late H ubert H u m p hrey as a balm fo r the w ounds in our P a rty , this nation and the world W e must forgive each other, redeem each other, regroup and move on O u r flag is red. white and blue, but our nation m rain b o w — red. yellow, brow n, black and w hite— and all are precious in G od's sight Am erica is not like a blanket— one piece o f unbroken cloth, the same color, the same texture, the same sire It is more like a q u ilt—m any patches, m any places, many colors and m anv sues, all woven and held together by a common thread The w hite, the Hispanic, the Black, the A ra b , the Jew. the w om an, the Native Am erican, the small farm er, the businessperson, the environm entalist, the peace activist, the young, the old, the lesbian, the gay. and the disabled make up the Am erican quilt Even in our fractured state, all of us count and all o f us fit somewhere W e have proven that we can S U R V IV E without each other But we have not proven that we can W IN or M A K E P R O G R E S S without each other From Fannie Lou H am er in A tla n tic C ity in 1964 to the R ainbow C o a litio n in San Francisco today; from the Atlantic to the Pacific, we have experienced pain but progress as we ended Amenca’s Apartheid laws, as we pubbe aic<wnn*idatM)n. as we secured voting rights, as we obtained <<wn Naning; as young people «’ * ’he right to vole, as we km Malcolm M artin. Medgar. Bobby. John and V n ia The team that got us here must hr expanded, not (Photo: Richard J. Brown) abandoned Twenty years ago. tears welled up in our eyes as the N dies of Schwerncr, Goudman and Cheney. were kedued hum the depths of a river in Masxuippi Twenty years later, our ctenmunrtxs, hbek and Jewish, are in anguish, anger and pain Feelings have been hurt on both sides There is a cnsis in uim municatiom Confusion is in the air Ihit we cannot affo rd to lose our way W e may agree to agree, or agree to disagree on issues, but we must bring back civility to the tensions. W e are co-partners in a long and rich religious history— the Judeo C hristian tra ditions M any blacks and Jews have a shared passion for social justice at home and peace abroad W e must seek a revival o f the spirit, inspired by a new vision and new possibilities W e must return to higher ground W e are b o u n d by M oses a n d Jesus, b u t also c o n n e c te d w ith Is la m M o h a m m e d These th ree great religions — Judaism, C h ristianity, and Islam — were all born in the revered and holy city o f Jerusalem U e are bound by Dr M a rtin Luther King. Jr and Rabbi Ab raham Heschel, crying out fro m their graves for us to reach com m on ground W e are bound by shared blood and shared sacrifices W e arc much lo o intelligent, much to o bound by our Judeo-C hristian heritage, m uch too v ic tim ite d by racism, sexism, m ilitarism , and anti semitism; m uch to o threatened as historical scapegoats to go on divided one fro m another W e must turn fro m finger pointing to clasped hands W e must share our burdens and our joys w ith each other once again W e must turn to each other and not on each other. Tw enty years later, we cannot be satisfied by just restoring the old coalition O ld wine skins must make room for new wine W e must heal and expand The Rainbow C o alition is making room for A rab-A m ericans They to o know the p ain and h urt o f racial and religious rejectio n They must not co n tin u e to he made pariahs The Rainbow C o alitio n is m aking room for Hispanic Am ericans who this very night are living under the threat o f the Sim pson-M ax/oti B ill, and farm workers in O h io are fighting the Cam pbell Soup Company with a boycott to achieve legitimate workers rights The R ainbow is m aking room fo r the N ative A m erican , the most exploited people of all and a people with the greatest m oral claim among us W e support them as they seek the restoration o f their ancient land and water rights. W e support them as they seek to preserve their ancestral homelands and the beauty o f a land that was once all theirs They can never receive a fair price for all that they have given us, but they must finally have a fair chance to develop their great resources and to preserve their people and their culture The Rainbow includes A sian-A m ericani. now being killed on our streets- scapegoats for the failures of corporate, industrial and econom ic policies The R ainb ow is m aking room fo r young Am ericans Twenty years ago, our young people were dying in a war fo r which they could not even vote Twenty years later, they have the power to stop a war in C e n tral A m erica and the responsibility to vote in great numbers Young Am erica must be politically active in 19X4 The choice is war or peace W e must make room fo r them The Rainbow includes disabled Americans The color ’ ’chrom e" fits in the Rainbow The disabled have their handicap revealed and their genius concealed, while the able bodied have their genius revealed and their disability concealed But ultim ately, we must judge people by their values and their contributions I would rather have Roosevelt in a wheelchair than Reagan on a horse The R ainbow is m aking room for small farm ers They have suffered tremendously under the Reagan regime They w ill either have 90 percent parity or 100 percent ch a rily W e must address their concerns and make room for them The Rainbow includes lesbians and gays N o Am erican cititen ought to be denied equal protection under the law W e must be unusually com m itted and caring as we expand our fam ily to include new members A ll of us must be tolerant and understanding as the fears and anxieties o f the rejected and of the Party leadership ex- press themselves in so many different ways T oo often what we call h ate— as if it were deeply rooted in some philosophy or strategy— is sim ply ignorance, anxiety, p aran o ia, fear and insecurity W e must be long suf fenng as we seek to right the wrongs o f our Party and our nation W e must expand our Party, heal our Party and unify our Party That is the means to our mission. II T H E C O U R A G E O F C O N V IC T IO N T H E M IS E R Y I N D E X . T H E D A N G E R I N D E X . A N D R E A G A N O M IC S W e are often reminded that we live in a great natio n — and we do But it can be greater still The Ram bow is mandating a new definition o f greatness W e must not measure greatness fro m the mansion down, but from the manger up Jesus said that we should not be judged by the bark we wear but by the fru it we bear Jesus said that we must measure greatness by how we treat the least o f these President Reagan says the nation is in recovery Those 90.000 corporations that made a profit last year but paid no federal taxes are recovering The 57.000 m ilitary contractors who have benefitted from Reagan's more than doubling o f the m ilitary budget in peace tim e are surely recovering The big corporations and rich individuals who received the bulk o f the three year m u lti-b illion tax cut fro m M r Reagan are recovering But no such com parable recovery is underway for the least o f these Rising tides d on’ t lif t all boats, especially those boats stuck at the bottom For the boats stuck at the bottom there is a rising M IS E R Y IN D E X This adm inistration has made life fo r the poor m iserable Its attitude tow ard poor people has been contem ptuous Its policies and programs have been cruel and unfair to working people It must be held accountable in Novem ber for an increasing in fant m ortality rate among the poor In D etroit, one o f the great cities o f the western w orld, babies are dying at the same rate as in H o nduras, the most underdeveloped nation in our hemisphere This adm inistration (Continued on next page/
