Jackson pushes voter registration

Jace Radke

Wednesday, Sept. 20, 2000 | 11:12 a.m.

Bouncing between soft-spoken humor and a preacher's tone laced with power and emotion, the Rev. Jesse Jackson spoke to a group of Las Vegans Tuesday about the importance of voting and supporting the Democratic ticket in November's election.

About 150 people at the West Las Vegas Library applauded and urged Jackson on during a speech that touted U.S. Senate candidate Ed Bernstein and voter registration.

After finding some unregistered voters in the crowd, Jackson quickly brought them to the stage and had them register. He then had the rest of the crowd pledge that they were telling the truth about their voting status.

With right hands raised the crowd repeated after Jackson, "I declare if I'm lying about being registered, I hope to have to walk 10 blocks today, with no shoes on, and then lose my job."

Jackson reminded the mostly black audience of the work and sacrifice of the civil rights movement and how much power the right to vote carries.

"We can't forget those that marched from Selma to Montgomery for the right to vote 35 years ago," Jackson said. "Those that bled to get the right to vote shouldn't have to plead with us to use it.

"If someone drops a food stamp, they'll pick it up because they have been taught that it has currency and power and can be used to get milk, bread, macaroni and cheese and butter. They're not born knowing that. They're taught it, and we must teach about the power of the vote."

Jackson called for Las Vegas' minority communities to register 20,000 additional voters before the election, saying, "There is a huge Senate race in this state, and your action or inaction will determine who the winner will be."

Jackson compared the Democratic and Republican tickets to football teams, saying that Nevada voters should look at both teams carefully when they choose either former Rep. John Ensign or Bernstein as the state's next senator.

"Ensign's on a team that's against a woman's right to choose," Jackson said. "A team that won't work against bringing nuclear waste to Nevada. A team that at a convention, I think it was in Philadelphia, had a whole bunch of black and brown people who were at the party, but not in the party.

"But you have another team, the All-American team. A team that stands behind a woman's rights. Stands for raising the minimum wage. Stands for raising the level of public education for the whole public and stands for a patients' bill of rights.' "

The Rev. Willie Davis will organize a voter registration meeting at his Second Baptist Church, 500 Madison Ave., on Sunday at 2 p.m. Davis has been handpicked by Jackson to help work toward opening a Rainbow Push Coalition office in Las Vegas.

"We're in the planning stages, but I've asked that Rev. Davis be the point man on it," Jackson said. "We need to have a strong coalition of labor and church here that emphasizes voter registration."