Political high noon, economic midnight,’ says Rev. Jackson

By HERB BOYD and NAYABA ARINDE Special to the Amsterdam News

“While we are politically at high noon, we are economically at midnight,” said the Rev. Jesse Jackson. The renowned minister was recently in town to promote his upcoming 12th annual Wall Street Project Economic Summit and to share some of his views on the disparity between the current economic and political issues. “As President Barack is rising,” Jackson continued, “our economy is falling. The economic downturn is double trouble for us.” The “us,” Rev. Jackson, founder and president of RainbowPUSH, was referring to is Black Americans. “In the best of times, we are number one in mortalities.” His misery index included infant mortality, life expectancy, homicide and you know the drill.But most of his comments were keyed to the dismal economic picture, and at the top of his agenda was the credit crisis. “Over half of our small businesses depend on credit, and when they are unable to get credit and loans, their businesses suffer, and many of them are forced to layoff workers and eventually close,” Jackson began, as he sat in the Harlem office of the AmNewson Monday. Then came the sub-prime crisis, he continued. “We were clustered and targeted in the sense that we have to pay more for less,” Jackson explained. Unfortunately, he said, the combined credit crisis and home foreclosures did not come with a bailout. Click Here For Full Story