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CNN Live Sunday

Interview With Jesse Jackson

Aired January 20, 2002 - 18:18   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: The teachings and the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. are the focus this holiday weekend, as we honor the civil rights leader's contributions to our society, and look toward the future and the challenges still ahead.

For insight into the equality struggles of the past and a look at the obstacles still to be overcome, we're joined by civil rights leader Reverend Jesse Jackson. He joins us today from Chicago.

Hi, reverend, good to see you.

REV. JESSE JACKSON, CIVIL RIGHTS LEADER: Very well.

LIN: You know, we were just talking in the newsroom. And I think you have mentioned this to us, about the significance of Dr. King's "I've been to the mountaintop speech." How would you apply some of the principles of what he spoke about then to what's happening today?

JACKSON: We achieved the freedoms of public accommodations and the right to open housing, but the unfinished business is education inequality, health care inequality, economic inequality. Today, you form schools based upon the real estate, tax-based, and the gap between suburban well-off schools and rural Appalachian or inner city schools is greater than the gap was in 1954, and so we must now focus on educational and economic equality for all Americans.

LIN: Where do you see some solutions actually taking place around the country?

JACKSON: Well, one solution of course deals with the commitment, the equal funding for public education. I mean, our basketball courts and football fields are even, but access to education is uneven, because it's not based upon the intrinsic worth of the child, it's real estate based on the parents. So that race/class gap is a substantial one. And of course, first class jails are driven by second class schools. That's a big deal.

Second is of course the security of the workers. We must now focus on bailing out the Enron workers. Those workers are victims of corporate greed and stealing and government neglect. We should bail out those workers, even if it means freezing the assets of those who took their moneys. Just as Dr. King focused on workers in Memphis in April of 1968, you'll be focused on Enron workers in Houston as the metaphor for workers across the country.

LIN: Reverend, you're talking about solutions to some very complicated problems, but when you consider this big debate over the World Trade Center statue and whether it should be representative of the races of the victims, when you take a look at -- I just got a wire copy today about a continuing boycott by the NAACP of the state of South Carolina. They are going to be setting up pickets at the state's borders to remind people that the state still flies the Confederate flag. What does that say about where we're at?

JACKSON: Well, you know, I think those issues have their placement. Should we have one America and one flag? We've been flying a lot of flags since September 11. But to choose the American flag over the Confederate flag -- the Confederate flag represents secession, sedition, slavery, segregation -- let's choose one America, one flag.

In the meantime, let's focus today on what's the unfinished business. Educational inequality, economic and health care inequality. And the focus could be just how we treat the workers of Enron who have been violated by government negligence, where the government was essentially neutralized by campaign contributions. It's a big deal. I think the issue there is to bail out those workers, and have election law reform.

LIN: Well, a lot of those workers are suing, so I think they're pursuing their own form of bail-out at this point.

JACKSON: Well, if the government can take the initiative to bail out Afghanistan, and there's some reasoning for that, bail out the airline industry -- let's bail out those workers. Show a commitment to leaving no worker behind.

LIN: Reverend, once again we find you at the center of the storm. Thank you very much, and enjoy the holiday tomorrow. I know you'll be working.

JACKSON: Thank you very much. Thank you.

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