University students, faculty, administrators and members of the Eugene community lined up Tuesday afternoon to sit in on a lecture by the Rev. Jesse Jackson. The event drew an estimated 900 people, filling up the EMU Ballroom and the Fir Room.
Jackson’s visit was arranged by a number of organizations on campus. The offices of the Provost, Institutional Equity and Diversity, and VP for Student Affairs, along with the Fraternity and Sorority community, the Multicultural Center and the Holden Leadership Center, all collaborated to bring Jackson to the University.
“A lot of people were working toward the same thing,” said Lidiana Soto, a director of the Multicultural Center.
Jackson arrived in Eugene on Monday and spoke at the Holden Leadership Center’s annual President’s Leadership Symposium the same day. There, Jackson spoke about leadership and social justice issues.
“Rev. Jesse Jackson is one of America’s foremost political figures. He is known for bringing people together on common ground across lines of race, class, gender and belief,” John Duncan, director of the Holden Leadership Center, said. “Our University has a progressive educational and research agenda and this seemed like a phenomenal opportunity to give our students a chance to listen and learn from a dynamic globally recognized leader.”
Tuesday, Jackson presented a lecture to the general public entitled “With Justice for All: Human Rights and Civil Rights At Home and Abroad.” The line to the EMU Ballroom stretched outside the EMU and through campus, past Carson Hall.
“Rev. Jackson had a lot of powerful things to say. His speech was about things that will benefit everyone,” Soto said. “It’s very powerful not only that he was here, but that there was an audience here waiting to hear his message.”
Jackson began his speech by addressing various social justice issues during the Civil Rights movement, including legal segregation, women’s suffrage, discrimination of minorities and minority cruelty. Jackson also encouraged students that they possess the power to change and fight to change unjust laws.
“Whenever an occasion such as this comes around, we have a chance to make critical choices,” he said. “Whenever young America comes alive, you have the power to change the law for the better. We live in our faith, we live under the law. We fought to change the law.”
Jackson said the “struggle was just beginning” during the Civil Rights movement when blacks received the right to vote. He explained that blacks could not win elections, even though they possessed the power to vote.
“The world is about building bridges to live together, not building walls to live apart,” he said.
Jackson also discussed the segregation of minorities in World War II and Lincoln’s promise to create equality for all. The election of Barack Obama to the presidency was a step forward for minorities, Jackson said. Students, he believes, have the power to change these mistakes of the past.
“On this campus, you have the right. You have the right to vote here in Eugene,” Jackson said, addressing the University students. “You’re not just a football power or a basketball power, you are a voting power.”
Change and equality were issues Jackson discussed in depth. He addressed how many individuals have fought to make America a better place of equality, and explained that the audience and students could be the change they wish to see.
“The bigger challenge is learning to live together,” he said. “We changed the country, the country didn’t change us. Today, we made American better.”
The importance of living together in a diverse society and accepting each other was a major recurring theme in Jackson’s speech.
“We all rise and fall together. If water comes in on one side of the ship, the whole ship will sink,” he said.
Jackson summed up everything he presented in his speech by addressing and restating each issue in a broader context. He encouraged students to continue to fight for what is right.
“When dreamers fall down, they get up again,” he said. “Dreamers know when they fall down, the ground isn’t a place for champions.”
Before concluding his speech, Jackson reiterated his final remarks about dreaming, stressing the importance of every individual in the diverse society we live in.
“Dream the world which you want to live,” he said. “Let nothing break your spirit. We live in a diverse world. Everybody matters, everybody is somebody.”
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