Young Jesse Jackson fought to end construction discrimination

Union Report

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The Rev. Jesse L. Jackson was only 27 on Sept. 22, 1969, when he led a rally of 4,000 people in Chicago, calling for an end to discrimination in the construction trades.

"We wanted to demand that if they were going to build where we live, we should have the trade skills to build. If there were public contracts, we should have the right to have a part of those contracts."

"It’s not understood. The same people who call us lazy lock us out of trade unions. We’ve had to fight to get the right to skills to work. Many young men are hopeless and jobless — they don’t have the same trade skills their white counterparts had."

"In the fight to rebuild where we live, there are countless jobs. There are probably more jobs than people. People ask how can you police poverty. You can’t police poverty. But you can develop people where you live so there’s less need for police."

Jessie Jackson quoted from The New York Times