Rev. Jesse Jackson on the Ohio Recount: It's Not Too Much to Ask
OpEdNews.com
“We cannot be the home of the thief and the land of the slave.”
by Bob Fitrakis & Harvey Wasserman
COLUMBUS–Preaching to a packed,
wildly cheering central Ohio citizen congregation, Rev. Jesse Jackson
blasted the presidential election back into the national headlines
Sunday. Jackson said new findings cast serious doubt on the idea that
George W. Bush beat John Kerry in Ohio November 2. A GOP “pattern of
intentionality” was behind a suspect outcome, he said. At stake is “the
integrity of the vote” for which “too many have died.” “We can live
with losing an election,” he said. “We cannot live with fraud and
stealing.”
Jackson
demanded the removal of Ohio Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell from
supervising the recount, which Jackson termed a case of “the fox
guarding the chicken house.” Blackwell co-chaired the Bush-Cheney
campaign in Ohio.
Jackson said “the owner of the team
can't also be the referee.” A broad-based legal team–now including
Jackson's PUSH/Rainbow Coalition as Plaintiff–is preparing to file an
election challenge asking the election results be overturned.
Jackson said the situation
“does not pass the smell test.”
Before
some 500 supporters, Jackson preached a litany of doubt surrounding the
Ohio outcome. “You can't have public elections on privately-owned
machines, especially where one of the owners has vowed to deliver the
state for George Bush,” Jackson added.
“We as
Americans should not be begging a Secretary of State for a fair vote
count. We cannot be the home of the thief and the land of the slave.”
“This is
not about John Kerry versus George Bush,” said Jackson. “This is about
Medgar Evers and Fannie Lou Hamer and Viola Liuzzo. About Goodman,
Cheney and Schwerner, and twenty-seven years in prison for Nelson
Mandela,” he said, referring to heroes of the movements for equal
rights. “It's about a will to dignity. It's not too much to ask for our
vote to count.”
* * *
Bob
Fitrakis and Harvey Wasserman are co-authors of the upcoming ANOTHER
STOLEN ELECTION: VOICES OF THE DISENFRANCHISED, 2004 (freepress.org).
Fitrakis is publisher and Wasserman is senior editor of freepress.org.
Fitrakis is co-counsel for the Alliance For Democracy which has
announced that it will file a lawsuit to ensure a fair recount of the
votes in Ohio.
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