Jesse Jackson Announces Candidacy For `Shadow Senator’ of D. C.
by: Dr. Clint Wilson
Two days after Independence Day Jesse Jackson announced his candidacy for a non-voting senate seat representing Washington, D.C. in a move that called the nation’s attention to the District’s efforts toward statehood.
Jackson, who made historic bids for the presidency of the United States in 1984 and 1988, already had a distinguished career as a civil rights spokesman dating back to the early days of the movement. He was an integral part of the work led by Dr. Martin L. King, Jr. and went on to become head of the Chicago-based Operation PUSH (People United to Save Humanity) where he solidified his role as a national human rights advocate.
The election of such a highly visible personality to the “shadow” senator’s post was seen as a means of showing the world that residents of the nation’s capital – with its nearly 80 percent Black population – were effectively disfranchised citizens who suffered “taxation without representation.”
The Chicago Defender reported the story to its readers:
JACKSON MAKES BID FOR D.C. SENATOR
The Rev. Jesse L. Jackson Thursday announced he will run for the Washington, D.C. “statehood” senator slot in an effort not only to integrate the Senate but to help ''rebuild America.''
The D.C. seat is dubbed as a ‘shadow senator’ because he can’t vote on the floor. Jackson, who seeks to make Washington, D.C. the 51st state, calls the job ‘statehood senator.’
Jackson said the ...
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