‘It’s kind of an anti-black mood’: Rev. Jesse Jackson points finger at Donald Trump, followers
‘It’s kind of an anti-black mood’: Rev. Jesse Jackson points finger at Donald Trump, followers
Human rights activist Jesse Jackson has pointed the finger at Donald Trump and his followers for helping to create a rising climate of fear in America which has contributed to the shocking deaths of five police officers in downtown Dallas.
Rev Jackson said there was an ‘anti-black mood’ in America which also saw discrimination against immigrants, Muslims and women.
Speaking in the aftermath of the coordinated attack on 11 police officers in Dallas, Rev Jackson called on President Barack Obama to hold a conference on violence and racial disparities.’
In an interview with BBC Radio 4 in London, Rev Jackson commented on the shooting of unarmed black men by police and the revenge attack in Dallas: ‘It’s a kind of anti-black mood, antisemitism, anti-Muslim bashing, immigrant bashing, female bashing, a kind of mean spirited division in the country.’
Rev Jackson considered what was causing the divisive mood in America.
He said: ‘Threats to deport 15 million immigrants…threats to build a wall between Mexico who we share 2,000 miles of a border, there’s a permissiveness towards black people [which] is readily apparent and we have been used as scape goats for deeper and deeper economic and cultural fears.’
He added: ‘We are not the cause of them’.
Asked about Donald Trump and the rise of ultra-conservative groups, Mr Jackson said: ‘He is a factor in that.
‘It’s not just Trump, it’s the followers of Trump; the blacks, the browns, the Muslims – we’ve been losing rights in the cause of globalisation. There is a scapegoating of those who are suffering.’
Asked about how all of this was happening under the first US black president and what Obama can do, he said: ‘My appeal to the President is let’s have a White House conference on violence, poverty, racial disparities and the plan to reconstruct – there is no plan to reconstruct.’
Speaking in Poland, where he is attending a NATO conference, President Obama described the events in Dallas as a ‘vicious, despicable and calculated attack’.
He said America is ‘horrified’ over the shootings, claiming there is no justification for the attacks.
He said: ‘When incidents like this occur, there’s a big chunk of our fellow citizenry that feels as if it’s because of the colour of their skin, they are not being treated the same.
‘And that hurts. And that should trouble all of us.’
His diagnosis of the problem reflected a growing sense of frustration and willingness to speak out publicly about police killings despite the risk of making law enforcement officers feel under attack.
Aiming to pre-empt that concern, Obama said that speaking out about the issue is not an attack on police.
He emphasised that he and other Americans appreciate the risks police take and mourn officers who die in the line of duty.
‘When people say “black lives matter”, that doesn’t mean blue lives don’t matter. That just means all lives matter.’
Obama said he spoke with the Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings in the aftermath of the attack.
However, FBI Director James Comey admitted the intense public focus on caught-on-camera moments may inhibit officers trying to protect the community.
British Prime Minister David Cameron expressed his horror at hearing of the shooting overnight.
He is currently on his way to meet Obama at the Nato summit in Warsaw.
A spokesman said: ‘He is due to be at the Warsaw summit and I think he will have the opportunity to talk to President Obama about it directly.
‘I think he would echo what the President has said, which is that these attacks on police officers simply doing their job and trying to keep people safe are horrific and cannot be justified.’
