REV. JESSE JACKSON SPEAKS OUT IN MICHIANA

Your Commander was shocked and disappointed to see that the Rev. Jesse Jackson left his long questioned base of operation at the Rainbow PUSH Coalition in Chicago to stick his nose into the monetary affairs of long financially troubled Benton Harbor, Michigan. The all-powerful Jesse even journeyed to South Bend to appear, along with some disgruntled Benton Harbor officials, on urban-themed radio station WUBS in an effort to drum up support for his planned march against the State of Michigan’s intervention into the daily affairs of Benton Harbor. Recently, then Governor Jennifer Grandholm appointed an emergency financial manager to straighten out the disastrous fiscal mess that has long existed in Benton Harbor.

The basis for Jackson’s concerns is the fact that the duly appointed emergency financial manager issued an order stripping city officials of their authority under a new Michigan State law – Public Act 4. This action inflamed the city officials who repeatedly failed to get their financial house in order. Enter the Rev. Jesse Jackson to demand the inept officials be returned to positions of authority with the support of the Rainbow PUSH Coalition and himself.

As the record clearly indicates, Jackson has a long record of sticking his nose into any issue where he can play the race card and exert pressure through organized demonstrations and boycotts. I draw your attention to a very significant book titled SHAKEDOWN – Exposing the real Jesse Jackson by Kenneth Timmerman in 2002 that documents the unethical, illegal and criminal tactics long associated with Jackson’s self-serving interventions world-wide. Jackson always walks away from his appearances with a self-serving gain for himself and the Rainbow PUSH Coalition.

Benton Harbor is a community in deep distress, and in dire need of a total honest appraisal of their problems, and not the intervention of a con-man of Jesse Jackson’s ilk. The facts and the track record of Jackson’s tactics speak for themselves, and any support granted by Jackson will result in long-term harm to the citizens of Benton Harbor, and a financial gain for Jackson and his strong-arm tactics. This is not civil leadership, but the action of a disruptive community disorganizer bent on self-aggrandisement.

COMMANDER GRANGER