-Caveat Lector-
Jackson Decries Civil Rights Violations, Places Blame on Jeb Bush
Human Events
December 11, Washington D.C.—Almost an hour after oral arguments
in Bush v. Gore ended, while crowds chanted and shouted in front
of the U.S. Supreme Court, Rev. Jesse Jackson exited the court
grounds on the Maryland Avenue side of the building. Jackson
stopped to address reporters, and then answered some questions.
In this exchange, he told Human Events reporters that he thinks
Jeb Bush is responsible for a concerted effort to disenfranchise
blacks.
Below is a transcript of the encounter:
Jackson: There are several questions for me. One, is the court
so political that it’s mind is already made up; that’s a real
question. Justice Scalia’s son is a lawyer who works for Bush.
On today’s internet Justice’s Thomas’s wife is recruiting staff
members for Bush who works for Heritage Foundation.
So is the court so predisposed politically that the arguments
don’t matter is a very real question. I hope the court rises
above the political partisanship, and chooses the Republic over
Republicans, and the democracy over Democrats, and makes that
kind of decision.
It maybe the biggest decision of this sort since the 1857 Dred
Scott decision, or the 1896 Plessy v. Ferguson, so it’s a huge
decision to be made today. Second, is that they kept asking for
uniformity of remedy, but you don’t have uniform procedures, by
county.
If University of Florida plays Florida State in football, or they
play the University of Miami, all the football fields are 100 by
50. The playing field is even, the rules are public, the goals
are clear, so you have uniform standards. But in the state of
Florida, standards vary from county to county, and indeed
African-Americans were targeted, 80 percent of those are in
discussion are really African American voters, who were targeted,
only African Americans were stopped by police as they sought to
vote, and as they were asked for their ID cards and for their
driver’s licenses. Eight thousand people, mostly African
Americans were sent, notices that they were felons by Mrs.
Harris, a private firm from Texas, none of them were, some were
misdemeanors, and some had not been arrested at all, or within
the black community, you had the most broken-down machinery. We
know the pattern of who was in fact targeted, during the
campaign.
Lastly, will the courts honor the intent of the voter? The
Republicans made two arguments last Friday. They said, in
Seminole honor the intent of the voter, and in Miami-Dade, they
said honor the machine, so they got to the fork in the road, and
they chose the fork.
They really must honor the intent of the voter. There will not
be a legitimate winner unless the voters determine who that
winner is. The courts must not take unto themselves to make that
determination, the voters must determine the winner. If you
govern with the consent of the governed, that’s democratic. But
if in fact we are governed without our consent, we are being
ruled. And that’s despotism. We want democracy, not despotism.
Reporter: From the way the proceedings went, do you think Mr.
Gore has a chance of winning this case?
Jackson: He certainly has a chance, but the assumption would be
that their minds are already made up, for example, Justices
O’Connor and Kennedy raised very challenging questions to the
Bush lawyers at the very outset. That could suggest that they at
least have been thinking about the process. Scalia challenged
over and over the Gore lawyers, and Clarence Thomas more or less
mused through it all, he had nothing to say. He was really a
spectator.
But the biggest spectator was the Department of Justice, they
have abdicated their job. The Department of Justice had a role
to play, they were absent, when 80 percent of those in question
were black voters, the Department of Justice took a hike.
Mother Liberty was blindfolded today, and closemouthed, and
should have had something to say.
Human Events: Do you think there was actually a concerted effort
to take away the votes of blacks?
Jackson: Absolutely! You can document it, you can look at where,
who got disenfranchised, the quantity, and who, from Liberty
City, to Broward, to Lakeland, to Rivera Beach, Orlando, to inner
city Jacksonville, most of those disenfranchised were African
Americans Students at Florida A&M, Bethune-Cookman, Edward Waters
went to vote, with registration in their hands, their name not on
the polls. 80 percent were African American. And you had the
Holocaust survivors in the West Palm area, who pushed the button
for Gore and they got Buchanan, they didn’t mean to do that, that
was a violation, of them for example. And so, in Duval County,
27,000 ballots were thrown away, they were held back until the
protest period was over, in fact.
And so, if this were Yugoslavia, and at the end, Milosevic was
losing, you got to the last state where Milosevic’s brother was
the governor, and in that state the machinery broke down, and he
won by the margin of machination in his brother’s state, we would
be slow to certify that election, it would not pass the smell
test.
HE: So do you think Jeb Bush intentionally disenfranchised of
black voters?
Jackson: No doubt about it that Jeb Bush was a major factor in
the Florida breakdown. He sent out for example absentee ballots
over his name and state seal. That was illegal. Mrs. Harris
sent out to 8000 blacks, that they were felons. Well, the fact
is, none of them were felons. Some were misdemeanors. And some
had no arrests at all. It was a very targeted violation, and so
in a democracy, you can afford to lose an election, you win some,
you lose some; you can’t afford to lose your franchise. And
that’s why if this decision goes down as it should go, the voters
will determine the winner. But if in fact, we lose this case,
our civil rights struggle will expand. We will not surrender our
right to vote, our citizenship or our dignity. We will not go
backwards in our quest to affirm our citizenship. . . .
In some sense we will lose our moral authority to judge elections
around the world, and we’re less able to say to China, or to say
to Europeans and Africans, "here’s how elections are supposed to
go". The Bush forces may have short term pleasure, given a long
term pain to our country. This is not the way to conduct an
election, they should be open, free, fair and transparent, and
credible. This one does not meet those standards.
HE: You don’t think it’s a very serious charge to charge Jeb Bush
with civil rights violations?
Jackson: It’s a very serious charge, and an accurate charge.
It’s serious, but accurate.
HE: So do you want the DOJ to investigate him?
Jackson: He took the position, you know against affirmative
action. You know, sons of inheritance, attack sons of daughters
of achievement, and they should understand, and they seemingly do
not understand. You know, Bush makes a lot of how much he loves
veterans. He could have been a veteran, but he dodged the war.
He could have been a veteran. I love veterans, my father was
one. Came back to America, and did not have the same rights that
the Nazi POW’s had. I love veterans.
I went to Syria and brung an American veteran back home from
jail. I went to Iraq, and brought 600 veterans wives back from
jail. I went to Yugoslavia and brought Americans home who were
under Milosevic. And so, we love veterans, the issue here today,
is shall we honor the intent of every American voter? The
veterans, the military votes should have counted. Holocaust
survivors, all those votes should have counted because that way
you have a legitimate winner. I can live under Bush if he is a
legitimate winner. That’s not the issue. In America, you win
some, you lose some. The issue here is will our democracy have
legitimacy, by honoring the integrity of the voter?
You can’t say that a holocaust survivor punched two, for Gore and
got Buchanan, and say, "well, your pain, my gain, I’m your
leader." You can’t say to the Haitian boat people, "well, you
can’t read and write well, but tough, you should go to Yale, like
me. Tough." That’s not the spirit of democracy.
HE: Do you think it’s appropriate to make this entirely racial
issue talking about Jews, and whites, and Haitians, etc?
Jackson: It’s not entirely, but I can tell you, I know who was
targeted, because I’ve been there, I understand it, you see? I
worked in with in Boca Raton with the Holocaust survivors who
wept bitterly because they ended up voting for Pat Buchanan. He
said it wasn’t his vote, and they said it was not their vote, and
so, the Jewish factor is real, because they said it’s real. .
. .
Students at Florida A&M, Bethune Cookman, Edward Waters who went
to vote with their registration card in their hand and their name
was not on the roles. And so, this is not about "chadism",
that’s abstract, this isn’t about dimples. It’s about people who
really are Americans that didn’t have their right to vote
honored. Yesterday, the Redskins played Dallas. Redskin fans
are disappointed they lost, but not in an angry sense, because
they know the playing field was even. But if in Dallas, the
Dallas players had to get 8 yards for a first down, and the
Redskins had to get 12 yards for a first down, they’d still be
fighting.
When the playing field is even, and the rules are public, and the
goals are clear, we can accept winner or loser. But here what
were we’re talking about is that the playing field has not been
even. We deserve better. . . .
Jackson: Gore believes he won this campaign, so he says "count".
Bush believes Gore won, so he says, "Don’t count." It should come
down to finally who was eligibly counted? Do you choose the
people or the machines? You get groceries at the store. And if
there are 200 dollars worth of groceries on the counter, and it
comes out all zeroes. You don’t walk away with groceries. If it
comes out all zeroes again, you don’t put ‘em back, you do a hand
count, that’s what you do. You go to the airport, and you take
all your stuff out, and the machine doesn’t work, and they do it
again. And of course! That’s the law in Texas, the law in
Florida.
So a bold attempt to take from people their franchise, is ugly.
I can live under Bush winning, I can’t live under Bush stealing.
We must not give legitimacy to an illegitimate attempt here to
take away America’s honor.
I travel a lot around the world. One of the great things I do
around the world, is to certify elections. You know, in South
Africa, in Asia, in Europe. Were are less able today to certify
elections. We can’t go to China and speak with moral authority.
We are less able to challenge Castro in Cuba now. We are less
able to challenge Bosnia now. Because we are paying a big price
just to win.
My fear is short term pleasure, long-term pain. We’ve got to
fight to save our country. We must also do so with integrity.
You can’t build trust around blatant dishonesty.
HE: Sir, who specifically do you think was intimidating black
voters in Florida?
Jackson: Who do you write for?
HE: Human Events.
Jackson: Alright. In some places, police were stopping blacks at
the polls, within the polling area, asking for their driver’s
license and their ID cards. That happened. In some other
instances, blacks were in the area where you had the oldest
machines that broke down, they did not have affidavits there.
In other instances studentsin Florida A&M, Daytona Beach,
Bethune-Cookman, and Edward Waters in Jacksonville, went to vote,
and had in their hand voter registration cards, and their names
not on the polls. That happened. In Jacksonville, you had one
ballot in the paper, another ballot in the booth. So if you
honored the procedure you were eliminated.
HE: Who do you think was giving the orders to do this stuff?
Jackson: Well, all of this is under the watch of the Governor Jeb
Bush, and on the watch of Mrs. Harris. The Republican
machinery, the Governor, the Secretary Of State, the state
legislature, someone is responsible. The state government is
responsible for administering elections.
HE: So, Jeb Bush ordered police to intimidate black voters to
keep them from voting?
Jackson: It is under his watch, therefore, he is responsible its
under his watch. You can set a cultural climate, where you set
the spirit that flows. But the buck stops somewhere. That’s
what leaders must do. When the stuff got thick, Jeb left the
state and went on vacation, and left James Baker speaking for the
state.
Unknown reporter: In the new Congress, what do you see will
happen? Do you think we’re going to take the gloves off?
Jackson: I hope it’s not that ugly but, you know, Tom DeLay, and
Trent Lott, sent staff members down to Miami-Dade to intimidate
those who were counting. Now, that’s a bit far for seasoned
congress people to go to alter the outcome of an election. So
when you do that you lose your capacity to speak and be heard.
© Human Events, 2000
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FROM THE DESK OF:
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