University of Massachusetts Boston - Beacon Yearbook (Boston, MA)

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jackson Speaks With Spirit - by Russom Mesfun and Meakin Armstrong Hundreds of students, members of the press, and local citizens, stuffed themselves into UMass!Boston's Large Science Auditorium last Thursday, April 4, to listen to jesse jackson give a lecture on the Future of the Democratic Party. jackson, who arrived slightly late, greeted the audience calmly as it roared and clapped enthusiastically. He told a gathering of more than 500 peo- ple that being a student and not having a Voter Registration card is 'a contradiction and an insult to democracy. He appealed to UMass! Boston administration officials to assume part of their responsibility to liberate society, by maintaining a voter registration of- ficial on campus. jackson said it was because of the Voting Rights Act that Americans have been able to progress toward the abolition of 'Legal Apar- theid in this country. He pledged that both he and his organization, the Rainbow Coali- tion, would be working for the enforcement of the Voting Rights Act in all fifty states. He also added that he will work to oppose the Simpson-Mazolli bill, and to pressure South Africa into ridding itself of its apartheid system. jackson who had just come from an anti- apartheid rally at Harvard cited the lack of ef- fect that the Reagan administration's South African policy was having. The Rainbow Coalition, he said, is calling for an end to Reagan's 'constructive engagement. He equated South Africa's apartheid system with that of the Aryan supremacy ideal that led to the Nazi State. uEverybody who was against The Third Reich in 1935 must be against the Fourth Reich in 1985, he said. He and the Rainbow Coalition will also seek to cut the U.S. military budget without cutting defense, and Rto revise the tax structure so that those who make the most pay the most. In addition, jackson believes that an agricultural policy should be developed to save the family farm. jackson spoke just under an hour, and was often interrupted with standing ovations and chants of iijesse, jesse. A press conference followed, with most of the questions pertain- ing to South Africa. 1 This article originally appeared in The Mass Media. - Ed. j

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I - ESSE lackson Mass - 1 . 1 B0Sf0'1 v 34.5 --.-- 4 A i Photos by Mark larret Chavous When most speakers come to UMass!Boston, usually a nice crowd shows up, filling the first few rows in the science auditorium. Not this time. When it became ap- parent that Jesse Jackson was coming to speak, word got around like never before and before you knew it we had a bulging crowd at the auditorium trying to get in. The crowd even got ugly at times, and the UMB police had to restrain them. It soon became clear why Jackson is one of the most powerful and eloquent speakers in the nation. He started off slowly, then he began to build with emotion to a fever pitchg the crowd had their attention fixed on Jackson as he spoke. Many people cheered while others felt tears roll down their cheeks as the passion and compassion of Jackson's speech grabbed them like an eagle's talons. Those who were not able to get in still remained to listen to the speech, a sight that no one has ever seen before. - Mark Jarret Chavous 1 t I