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GOVERNOR NIXONS ACTIONS CONTINUES MIS-LEADERSHIP IN MISSOURI
Statement by Reverend Jesse L. Jackson, Sr.
November 19, 2015
Missouri Governor Jay Nixons latest declaration of a state of emergency may not even be legal I
have never heard of a Governor declaring a pre-state of emergency and he is continuing the misleadership in Ferguson, St. Louis County and Missouri that has contributed to rising racial tensions
in the area, including the threat of vigilante violence by the KKK. Not even Alabama Governor
George Wallace, at the height of the civil rights movement of the 1960s, ordered a pre-state of
emergency!
The racial, economic and political tensions in Ferguson are not really just about one African
American young man, one police officer, one city and one state. Its about a nation and its
leadership, at every level, that has ignored and neglected the analysis, policy and program
recommendations of the 1968 Kerner Commission Report which concluded that our nation is
moving toward two societies, one Black and one White separate and unequal. Presidents,
congresses, governors, state legislatures, counties and local governments, all have failed to come to
grips with a systems structures of abuse, neglect, discrimination and exploitation. Urban policy is
withering because its not being watered. Planning and practice are being put in place for
containment but not for economic, political and social uplift.
The Governor of Missouri is using provocative language and a provocative act to incite fear among
the citizens of St. Louis and St. Louis County to solidity his political following, much like George
Wallace and Bull Connor. While he says there is the threat of demonstrators, violence from African
Americans and other demonstrators, he leaves out the provocative actions of the police in Ferguson
that may have helped to precipitate some of the unrest. The real institutional violence is the
underrepresentation in the Ferguson police and fire departments, in contracts that could help to lift
minority communities economically, unfair judges and county prosecutors, and the legacy of
Fergusons sundown town tradition.
We cannot leave our fate to this Governor or this Grand Jury. We must fight for justice for Michael
Brown, but also for the Michael Browns and the Fergusons nationwide. I am concerned about what
will happen if this grand jury does not indict Darren Wilson, but I am equally concerned about what
will happen if he is indicted and convicted. Will anything fundamentally change relative to new
educational, economic, health care, recreational and housing opportunities in Ferguson, St. Louis and
around the nation? There is a military plan and training taking place but no economic plan and
training for fairness and justice. There is no plan for skill training; no plan for people to learn to live
together with hope rather than stay apart in fear. Ferguson is a metaphor for minority communities
throughout the nation. The pain of Ferguson is not confined to Ferguson. All the agencies
including the military buildup are federally subsidized, and the Federal government has a
role to play relative to housing, police, fire, fairness and justice for all.
Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, Sr., Founder & President
Martin L. King, Chairman
www.rainbowpush.org
