Jackson Urges Nationwide Protests

Dec. 12, 2000 -- The Rev. Jesse Jackson is predicting massive nationwide civil rights protests if the U.S. Supreme Court rules for Republican presidential candidate George W. Bush in his case to end manual vote recounts in Florida.

Jackson on Monday called for rallies in front of local courthouses to urge the U.S. Supreme Court to let Florida election officials finish the recount, which was ordered Friday by Florida’s Supreme Court, but suspended by the federal court Saturday.

Hundreds of Democratic supporters staged rallies in cities around the country, including Atlanta, Boston, Hartford, Conn., Miami and Sacramento, Calif., the Associated Press reported.

Dozens of members of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) joined protests in South Florida, the center of the controversy, arriving in charteredbuses from as far away as California and from 16 other states, AP reported.

NAACP President Kweisi Mfume has said the organization is scheduling several rallies this week in unspecified cities around the country.

Jackson, who attended the high court’s hearing of oral arguments Monday, said the integrity of America’s democracy was on trial and suggested there would be more massive nationwide protests in the event the justices overturned the Florida court’s order for manual recounts.

“I hope they will put forth that commitment to affirm the right of the vote to count,” said Jackson. “If they don’t, they will see a massive civil rights explosion, people marching all over the nation.”

What’s At Stake

The Supreme Court’s ruling, expected as soon as today, could likely decide whether Democratic candidate Al Gore or Republican candidate George W. Bush receives Florida’s 25 electoral votes and most likely the presidency.

Bush lawyers argue the recount ordered by the Florida high court was illegal and unconstitutional. Jackson, like the Gore team, argues what’s at stake is the right of voters to have their ballots counted.

“You cannot afford to lose your franchise. It is extraordinary the Supreme Court would even consider discounting people’s votes,” said Jackson, who heads the multiracial, multi-issue Rainbow-PUSH coalition he founded.

“I hope today that this court will rule ‘let the vote count.’ The only way you can determine a legitimate winner is for the votes to count,” he said.

Friend of Gore

The civil rights activist and other minority leaders have charged black voting in Florida was suppressed in violation of U.S. civil rights law. Last week, Jackson and others filed a lawsuit against the Duval County canvassing board, Bush and his running mate, Dick Cheney, arguing an extremely high percentage of county voters whose ballots were rejected for lack of a vote or more than one vote were African-American.

Jackson is an acknowledged Gore supporter.

“We talk often and we have prayer and we analyze what’s happening,” he said today.

Jackson expressed concern the high court may rule against Gore along the lines it took when it decided 5-4 to suspend the recount Saturday.

“It’s split along very political lines and courts at their best have a sense of fairness that transcends partisan argument, at it’s best it is that. But historically we’ve also known courts at their worst to go the other way.”