39.Jesse Jackson - 1988 DNC Address
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
Tonight, we pause and give praise and honor to
God for being good enough to allow us to be at this place at this time. When I look out at
this convention, I see the face of America: Red,
Yellow, Brown, Black and White. We are all precious in God"s sight the real rainbow coalition.
All of us all of us who are here think that we are seated.
But we"re really standing on someone"s shoulders. Ladies and gentlemen, Mrs. Rosa Parks the
mother of the civil rights movement.
[Mrs. Rosa Parks is brought to the podium.]
I want to express my deep love and appreciation for the support
my family has given me over
these past months. They have endured pain, anxiety, threat, and fear. But they have been
strengthened and made secure by our faith in God, in America, and in you. Your love has
protected us and made us strong. To my wife Jackie, the foundation of our family. to our five
children whom you met tonight. to my mother, Mrs. Helen Jackson, who
is present tonight. and to our grandmother, Mrs. Matilda Burns. to my brother Chuck and his family. to my
motherinlaw, Mrs. Gertrude Brown, who just last month at age 61 graduated from Hampton Institute a
marvelous achievement.
I offer my appreciation to Mayor Andrew Young who has provided
such gracious hospitality to all of us this week.
And a special salute to President Jimmy Carter. President Carter restored honor to
the White House after Watergate. He gave many of us a special opportunity to grow. For his kind words,
for his unwavering commitment to peace in the world, and for the voters that came from his
family, every member of his family, led by Billy and Amy, I offer my special
thanks to the Carter family.
My right and my privilege to stand here before you has been won, won
in my lifetime, by the blood and the sweat of the innocent.
Twentyfour years ago, the late Fannie Lou Hamer and Aaron
Henry who sits here tonight from Mississippi were
locked out onto the streets in Atlantic City. the head of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party.
But tonight, a Black and White delegation from Mississippi is headed by Ed Cole, a Black man
from Mississippi. twentyfour years later.
Many were lost in the struggle for the right to vote: Jimmy Lee Jackson, a young student,
gave his life. Viola Liuzzo, a White mother from Detroit, called "nigger lover," and brains
blown out at point blank range. [Michael] Schwerner, [Andrew] Goodman and [James]
Chaney two Jews and a Black found in a common grave, bodies riddled with bullets in
Mississippi. the four darling little girls in a church in Birmingham, Alabama. They died that we
might have a right to live.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. lies only a few miles from us tonight. Tonight he must
feel good as he looks down upon us. We sit here together, a rainbow, a coalition
the sons and daughters of slavemasters and the sons and daughters of slaves, sitting together around a common
table, to decide the direction of our party and our country. His heart would be full tonight.
As a testament to the struggles of those who have gone before. as a legacy for those who will
come after. as a tribute to the endurance, the patience, the courage of our forefathers and
mothers. as an assurance that their prayers are being answered, that their work has not been
in vain, and, that hope is eternal, tomorrow night my name will go
into nomination for the Presidency of the United States of America.
We meet tonight at the crossroads, a point of decision. Shall we expand, be inclusive, find
unity and power. or suffer division and impotence?
We"ve come to Atlanta, the cradle of the Old South, the crucible of the New
South. Tonight, there is a sense of celebration, because we are moved, fundamentally moved from racial
battlegrounds by law, to economic common ground. Tomorrow we"ll challenge to move to higher ground.
Common ground. Think of Jerusalem, the intersection where many trails met. A small village
that became the birthplace for three great religions Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Why
was this village so blessed? Because it provided a crossroads where different people met,
different cultures, different civilizations could meet and find common ground.
When people come together, flowers always flourish the air is rich with the aroma of a new spring.
Take New York, the dynamic metropolis. What makes New York so
special? It"s the invitation at the Statue of Liberty, "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses who yearn
to breathe free." Not restricted to English only. Many people, many cultures, many languages
with one thing in common: They yearn to breathe free. Common ground.
Tonight in Atlanta, for the first time in this century, we convene in the South. a state where
Governors once stood in school house doors. where Julian Bond was denied a seat
in the State Legislature because of his conscientious objection to the Vietnam
War. a city that, through its five Black Universities, has graduated more black students than any city in the
world. Atlanta, now a modern intersection of the New South.
Common ground. That"s the challenge of our party tonight left wing, right wing.
Progress will not come through boundless liberalism nor static conservatism, but at the critical
mass of mutual survival not at boundless liberalism nor static conservatism, but at
the critical mass of mutual survival. It takes two wings to
fly. Whether you"re a hawk or a dove, you"re just a bird living in the same environment, in
the same world.
The Bible teaches that when lions and lambs lie down together, none will
be afraid, and there will be peace in the valley. It
sounds impossible. Lions eat lambs. Lambs sensibly flee from
lions. Yet even lions and lambs find common ground. Why? Because neither lions nor lambs
want the forest to catch on fire. Neither lions nor lambs want acid rain to fall. Neither lions nor
lambs can survive nuclear war. If lions and lambs can find common ground, surely we can as
well as civilized people.
The only time that we win is when we come together. In 1960, John Kennedy,
the late John Kennedy, beat Richard Nixon by only 112,000 votes less
than one vote per precinct. He won by the margin of our hope. He brought
us together. He reached out. He had the courage
to defy his advisors and inquire about Dr. King"s jailing in Albany, Georgia.
We won by the margin of our hope, inspired by courageous leadership.
In 1964, Lyndon Johnson brought both wings together the
thesis, the antithesis, and the creative synthesis and together we won. In
1976, Jimmy Carter unified us again, and we won. When do we not come together, we never win. In
1968, the division and despair in July led to our defeat in
November. In 1980, rancor in the spring and the summer led to Reagan in the fall. When we
divide, we cannot win. We must find common ground as the basis for survival and
development and change and growth.
Today when we debated, differed, deliberated, agreed
to agree, agreed to disagree, when we had the good judgment to argue a case and then
not selfdestruct, George Bush was just a
little further away from the White House and a little closer to private life.
Tonight, I salute Governor Michael Dukakis. He has run He has run a wellmanaged
and a dignified campaign. No matter how tired or how tried, he always resisted the temptation to
stoop to demagoguery.
I"ve watched a good mind fast at work, with steel
nerves, guiding his campaign out of the crowded field without appeal to the worst
in us. I"ve watched his perspective grow as his environment has expanded. I"ve seen
his toughness and tenacity close up. I know his commitment
to public service. Mike Dukakis" parents were a doctor and a teacher. my parents
a maid, a beautician, and a janitor. There"s a great gap between Brookline, Massachusetts and
Haney Street in the Fieldcrest Village housing projects in Greenville, South Carolina.
He studied law. I studied theology. There are differences of religion, region, and race.
differences in experiences and perspectives. But the genius of America is that out of the many
we become one.
Providence has enabled our paths to intersect. His foreparents came to America on immigrant
ships. my foreparents came to America on slave ships. But whatever the original
ships, we"re in the same boat tonight.
Our ships could pass in the night if we have a false sense of independence or
they could collide and crash. We would lose our passengers. We can seek a high reality and a greater
good. Apart, we can drift on the broken pieces of Reagonomics, satisfy our baser instincts,
and exploit the fears of our people. At our highest, we can call upon
noble instincts and navigate this vessel to safety. The greater good is the common good.
As Jesus said, "Not My will, but Thine be done." It was his way of saying there"s a higher good
beyond personal comfort or position.
The good of our Nation is at stake. It"s commitment to working men and women, to the poor
and the vulnerable, to the many in the world.
With so many guided missiles, and so much misguided leadership, the stakes are exceedingly
high. Our choice? Full participation in a democratic government, or more abandonment and
neglect. And so this night, we choose not a false sense of independence, not our capacity to
survive and endure. Tonight we choose interdependency, and our capacity to act and unite for
the greater good.
Common good is finding commitment to new priorities to expansion and inclusion. A
commitment to expanded participation in the Democratic Party at every level. A commitment
to a shared national campaign strategy and involvement at every level.
A commitment to new priorities that insure that hope will be kept alive. A common ground
commitment to a legislative agenda for empowerment, for the John Conyers bill universal, onsite,
sameday registration everywhere.
A commitment to D.C. statehood and empowerment D.C. deserves statehood. A
commitment to economic setasides, commitment to the Dellums bill for comprehensive
sanctions against South Africa. A shared commitment to a common direction.
Common ground.
Easier said than done.
Where do you find common ground? At
the point of challenge. This campaign has shown that politics need not be marketed by politicians,
packaged by pollsters and pundits. Politics can be a moral arena where people come together to find common
ground.
We find common ground at the plant gate that closes on workers without notice. We find
common ground at the farm auction, where a good farmer loses his or her land to bad loans
or diminishing markets. Common ground at the school yard where teachers cannot get
adequate pay, and students cannot get a scholarship, and can"t make a loan. Common ground
at the hospital admitting room, where somebody tonight is dying because they cannot afford
to go upstairs to a bed that"s empty waiting for someone with insurance to get sick. We are a
better nation than that. We must do better.
Common ground. What is leadership if not present help in a time of crisis? And so I
met you at the point of challenge. In Jay, Maine, where paper workers were striking for fair wages. in
Greenville, Iowa, where family farmers struggle for a fair price. in Cleveland, Ohio, where
working women seek comparable worth. in McFarland, California, where the children of
Hispanic farm workers may be dying from poisoned land, dying in clusters with cancer. in an
AIDS hospice in Houston, Texas, where the sick support one another, too often rejected by
their own parents and friends.
Common ground. America is not a blanket woven from one thread, one color, one cloth. When
I was a child growing up in Greenville, South Carolina and grandmamma could not afford a
blanket, she didn"t complain and we did not freeze. Instead she took pieces of old cloth patches,
wool, silk, gabardine, crockersack only patches, barely good enough
to wipe off your shoes with. But they didn"t stay that way very long. With
sturdy hands and a strong cord,
she sewed them together into a quilt, a thing of beauty and power and culture. Now,
Democrats, we must build such a quilt.
Farmers, you seek fair prices and you are right but you cannot stand alone.
Your patch is not big enough.
Workers, you fight for fair wages, you are right but
your patch labor is not big enough.
Women, you seek comparable worth and pay equity, you are right
but your patch is not big enough.
Women, mothers, who seek Head Start, and day care and prenatal care on the front side of
life, relevant jail care and welfare on the back side of life, you are right but
your patch is not big enough.
Students, you seek scholarships, you are right but your patch is not big enough.
Blacks and Hispanics, when we fight for civil rights, we are right but our patch is not big enough.
Gays and lesbians, when you fight against discrimination and a cure for AIDS, you are right but
your patch is not big enough.
Conservatives and progressives, when you fight for what you believe, right wing,
left wing, hawk, dove, you are right from your point of view, but your point of view is not enough.
But don"t despair. Be as wise as my grandmamma. Pull the patches and the pieces together,
bound by a common thread. When we form a great quilt of unity and common ground, we"ll
have the power to bring about health care and housing and jobs and education and hope to
our Nation.
We, the people, can win.
We stand at the end of a long dark night of reaction. We stand tonight
united in the commitment to a new direction. For almost eight years we"ve been led by those who view
social good coming from private interest, who view public life as a means to increase private
wealth. They have been prepared to sacrifice the common good of the many to satisfy
the private interests and the wealth of a few.
We believe in a government that"s a tool of our democracy in
service to the public, not an instrument of the aristocracy in search of private wealth.
We believe in government with the consent of the governed, "of, for and by the people." We must now emerge into
a new day with a new direction.
Reaganomics: Based on the belief that the rich had
too much money [sic] too little money and the poor had too
much. That"s classic Reaganomics. They believe that the poor had too much
money and the rich had too little money,so they engaged in reverse Robin Hood took
from the poor, gave to the rich, paid for by the middle class. We cannot stand four more years
of Reaganomics in any version, in any disguise.
How do I document that case? Seven years later, the richest
1 percent of our society pays 20 percent less in taxes. The poorest 10 percent pay 20 percent more: Reaganomics.
Reagan gave the rich and the powerful a multibilliondollar party. Now the party is over. He
expects the people to pay for the damage. I take this principal position, convention, let us not
raise taxes on the poor and the middleclass, but those who had the party, the rich and the
powerful, must pay for the party.
I just want to take common sense to high places. We"re spending one hundred and fifty billion
dollars a year defending Europe and Japan
43 years after the war is over. We have more troops in
Europe tonight than we had seven years ago. Yet the threat of war is ever more remote.
Germany and Japan are now creditor nations. that means they"ve got a surplus. We are a
debtor nation means we are in debt. Let them share more of the burden of their own
defense. Use some of that money to build decent housing. Use some of that money to educate
our children. Use some of that money for longterm health care. Use some of that money to
wipe out these slums and put America back to work!
I just want to take common sense to high places. If we can bail out
Europe and Japan. if we can bail out Continental Bank and Chrysler and
Mr. Iacocca, make [sic] 8,000 dollars an hour we can bail out the family farmer.
I just want to make common sense. It does not make sense to close down six hundred and
fifty thousand family farms in this country while importing food from abroad subsidized by the
U.S. Government. Let"s make sense. It does not
make sense to be escorting all our tankers up and down the Persian Gulf paying
$2.50 for every one dollar worth of oil we bring out, while oil wells are capped in Texas,
Oklahoma, and Louisiana. I just want to make sense.
Leadership must meet the moral challenge of its day. What"s the moral challenge of our day?
We have public accommodations. We have the right to vote. We have open
housing. What"s the fundamental challenge of our day? It
is to end economic violence. Plant closings without notice economic
violence. Even the greedy do not profit long from greed economic violence.
Most poor people are not lazy.
They are not black. They are not brown. They are mostly White and female and young. But whether White,
Black or Brown, a hungry baby"s belly turned inside out
is the same color color it pain. color it hurt. color it agony.
Most poor people are not on welfare. Some of them are illiterate and can"t read the wantad
sections. And when they can, they can"t find a job that matches the address. They work hard
everyday.
I know. I live amongst them. I"m one of them. I know they work. I"m a witness. They catch
the early bus. They work every day.
They raise other people"s children. They work everyday.
They clean the streets. They work everyday. They drive dangerous cabs. They work everyday.
They change the beds you slept in in these hotels last night and can"t get a union contract.
They work everyday.
No, no, they are not lazy! Someone must defend them because it"s right, and they cannot
speak for themselves. They work in hospitals. I know
they do. They wipe the bodies of those who are sick with
fever and pain. They empty their bedpans. They clean out their commodes.
No job is beneath them, and yet when they get sick they cannot
lie in the bed they made up every day. America, that is not right. We are a better Nation than
that. We are a better Nation than that.
We need a real war on drugs. You can"t "just say no." It"s deeper than that. You can"t just get
a palm reader or an astrologer. It"s more profound than that.
We are spending a hundred and fifty billion dollars on drugs a year.
We"ve gone from ignoring it to
focusing on the children. Children cannot buy a hundred and fifty billion dollars worth of
drugs a year. a few highprofile athletes athletes are not laundering a hundred and fifty
billion dollars a year bankers are.
I met the children in Watts, who, unfortunately, in their despair, their grapes of hope have
become raisins of despair, and they"re turning on each other and they"re selfdestructing.
But I stayed with them all night long. I wanted to hear their case.
They said, "Jesse Jackson, as you challenge us to say no to drugs, you"re right. and to
not sell them, you"re right. and not use these guns, you"re right." (And by the way, the promise of
CETA [Comprehensive Employment and Training Act]. they displaced CETA
they did not replace CETA.)
"We have neither jobs nor houses nor services nor training no way out. Some of us take
drugs as anesthesia for our pain. Some take drugs as a way of pleasure, good shortterm
pleasure and longterm pain. Some sell drugs to make money. It"s wrong, we know, but
you need to know that we know. We can go and buy the drugs by the boxes at the port. If we can
buy the drugs at the port, don"t you believe the Federal government can stop it if they want to?"
They say, "We don"t have Saturday night specials anymore." They say, "We buy AK47"s and
Uzi"s, the latest make of weapons. We buy them across the along these boulevards."
You cannot fight a war on drugs unless and until you"re going to challenge the bankers and
the gun sellers and those who grow them. Don"t just focus on the children. let"s stop drugs at
the level of supply and demand. We must end the scourge on the American Culture.
Leadership. What difference will we make? Leadership. Cannot just go along to get along.
We must do more than change Presidents. We must change direction.
Leadership must face the moral challenge of our day. The nuclear war buildup
is irrational. Strong leadership cannot desire to look tough and let
that stand in the way of the pursuit of peace. Leadership must reverse the arms race.
At least we should pledge no first use. Why?
Because first use begets first retaliation. And that"s mutual annihilation. That"s not a rational way out.
No use at all. Let"s think it out and not fight it our because it"s an unwinnable fight. Why hold
a card that you can never drop? Let"s give peace a chance.
Leadership. We now have this marvelous opportunity to have a breakthrough with
the Soviets. Last year 200,000 Americans visited the Soviet Union. There"s a chance for joint
ventures into space not Star Wars and war arms escalation but a space defense initiative.
Let"s build in the space together and demilitarize the heavens. There"s a way out.
America, let us expand. When Mr. Reagan and Mr. Gorbachev met
there was a big meeting. They represented together oneeighth of the human
race. Seveneighths of the human race was locked out of that room. Most people in the world tonight half
are Asian, onehalf of them are Chinese. There are 22 nations in
the Middle East. There"s Europe. 40 million Latin Americans next door to us. the Caribbean. Africa a
halfbillion people.
Most people in the world today are Yellow or Brown or Black, nonChristian, poor, female,
young and don"t speak English in the real world.
This generation must offer leadership to the real world. We"re losing ground in Latin America,
Middle East, South Africa because we"re not focusing on the real world. That"s the real world.
We must use basic principles support international law. We stand the most to gain from it.
Support human rights we believe in that. Support selfdetermination
we"re built on that. Support economic development you
know it"s right. Be consistent and gain our moral authority in the world. I
challenge you tonight, my friends, let"s be bigger and better as a Nation and as a Party.
We have basic challenges freedom in South Africa. We"ve already agreed as Democrats to
declare South Africa to be a terrorist state. But don"t just stop there. Get
South Africa out of Angola. free Namibia. support
the front line states. We must have a new
humane human rights consistent policy in Africa.
I"m often asked, "Jesse, why do you take on these tough issues? They"re not very political. We
can"t win that way."
If an issue is morally right, it will eventually be political. It may be political and never be right.
Fannie Lou Hamer didn"t have the most votes in Atlantic City, but her principles have
outlasted every delegate who voted to lock her out. Rosa Parks did not have the most votes,
but she was morally right. Dr. King didn"t have the most votes about the Vietnam War, but
he was morally right. If we are principled first, our politics will fall in place.
"Jesse, why do you take these big bold initiatives?" A poem by an unknown author went
something like this: "We mastered the air, we conquered the sea, annihilated distance and
prolonged life, but we"re not wise enough to live on this earth without war and without hate."
As for Jesse Jackson: "I"m tired of sailing my little boat, far inside the harbor bar. I want to
go out where the big ships float, out on the deep where the great ones are.
And should my frail craft prove too slight for waves that sweep those billows o"er, I"d rather go down
in the stirring fight than drowse to death at the sheltered shore."
We"ve got to go out, my friends, where the big boats are.
And then for our children. Young America, hold your head high now. We can win. We must not
lose you to drugs and violence, premature pregnancy, suicide, cynicism, pessimism and
despair. We can win. Wherever you are tonight, I challenge you
to hope and to dream. Don"t submerge your dreams. Exercise above all else,
even on drugs, dream of the day you are drug
free. Even in the gutter, dream of the day that you will be up on your feet again.
You must never stop dreaming. Face reality, yes, but don"t stop with
the way things are. Dream of things as they ought
to be. Dream. Face pain, but love, hope, faith and dreams will
help you rise above the pain. Use hope and imagination as weapons of survival and progress,
but you keep on dreaming, young America. Dream of peace. Peace is rational and reasonable.
War is irrationable [sic] in this age, and unwinnable.
Dream of teachers who teach for life and not for a living. Dream of doctors who are concerned
more about public health than private wealth. Dream of lawyers more concerned about justice
than a judgeship. Dream of preachers who are concerned more about prophecy than
profiteering. Dream on the high road with sound values.
And then America, as we go forth to September, October, November and then beyond,
America must never surrender to a high moral challenge.
Do not surrender to drugs. The best drug policy is a "no first use." Don"t surrender with
needles and cynicism. Let"s have "no first use" on the one hand, or clinics on the other. Never
surrender, young America. Go forward.
America must never surrender to malnutrition. We can feed the hungry and clothe the naked.
We must never surrender. We must go forward.
We must never surrender to illiteracy. Invest in our children. Never surrender. and go
forward. We must never surrender to inequality. Women cannot compromise ERA or
comparable worth. Women are making 60 cents on the dollar to what a man
makes. Women cannot buy meat cheaper. Women cannot buy bread cheaper. Women cannot buy milk
cheaper. Women deserve to get paid for the work that you do. It"s right! And it"s fair.
Don"t surrender, my friends. Those who have AIDS tonight, you deserve our compassion. Even with
AIDS you must not surrender.
In your wheelchairs. I see you sitting here tonight in those wheelchairs. I"ve stayed with you.
I"ve reached out to you across our Nation. And don"t you give up. I
know it"s tough sometimes. People look down on you. It
took you a little more effort to get here tonight. And no one should look down on you, but
sometimes mean people do. The only justification we
have for looking down on someone is that we"re going to stop and pick them up.
But even in your wheelchairs, don"t you give up. We cannot forget
50 years ago when our backs were against the wall, Roosevelt was in a wheelchair. I would rather have Roosevelt
in a wheelchair than Reagan and Bush on a horse. Don"t you surrender and don"t you give up.
Don"t surrender and don"t give up!
Why I cannot challenge you this way? "Jesse Jackson, you don"t understand my situation. You
be on television. You don"t understand. I see you with the big people. You don"t
understand my situation."
I understand. You see me on TV, but you don"t know the me that makes me,
me. They wonder, "Why does Jesse run?" because they see me running for the White House. They don"t
see the house I"m running from.
I have a story. I wasn"t always on television. Writers were not always outside my door. When
I was born late one afternoon, October 8th, in Greenville, South Carolina,
no writers asked my mother her name. Nobody chose to write down
our address. My mama was not supposed to
make it, and I was not supposed to make it. You see,
I was born of a teenage mother, who was born of a teenage mother.
I understand. I know abandonment, and people being mean to you, and saying you"re nothing
and nobody and can never be anything.
I understand. Jesse Jackson is my third name. I"m adopted. When
I had no name, my grandmother gave me her name. My name was
Jesse Burns "til I was 12. So I wouldn"t have a blank space, she gave me a name to
hold me over. I understand when nobody knows your name. I understand when you have no name.
I understand. I wasn"t born in the hospital. Mama didn"t have insurance. I was born in the bed
at [the] house. I really do understand. Born in a threeroom house, bathroom in the backyard,
slop jar by the bed, no hot and cold running water. I understand. Wallpaper used for
decoration? No. For a windbreaker. I understand. I"m a working person"s person. That"s why I
understand you whether you"re Black or White. I understand work. I was not
born with a silver spoon in my mouth. I had a shovel programmed for my hand.
My mother, a working woman. So many of the days she went
to work early, with runs in her stockings. She knew better, but she wore runs in her stockings so that
my brother and I could have matching socks and not be laughed at at school. I understand.
At 3 o"clock on Thanksgiving Day, we couldn"t eat turkey because momma was preparing
somebody else"s turkey at 3 o"clock. We had to play football to entertain ourselves. And then
around 6 o"clock she would get off the Alta Vista bus and we would bring up the leftovers and
eat our turkey leftovers, the carcass, the cranberries around 8 o"clock at night. I really do
understand.
Every one of these funny labels they put on you, those of you who are watching this broadcast
tonight in the projects, on the corners, I understand. Call
you outcast, low down, you can"t make it, you"re nothing,
you"re from nobody, subclass, underclass. when you see Jesse
Jackson, when my name goes in nomination, your name goes in nomination.
I was born in the slum, but the slum was not born in me. And it wasn"t born in you, and you
can make it.
Wherever you are tonight, you can make it. Hold your head high. stick your chest out. You
can make it. It gets dark sometimes, but the morning comes. Don"t you surrender!
Suffering breeds character, character breeds faith. In the end faith will not disappoint.
You must not surrender! You may or may not get there but just know that
you"re qualified! And you hold on, and hold out! We must never surrender!! America will
get better and better.
Keep hope alive. Keep hope alive! Keep hope alive! On tomorrow night and beyond, keep
hope alive!
I love you very much. I love you very much.
英语演讲39.Jesse Jackson - 1988 DNC Address
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