Reverend Jesse Jackson gives speech about the vitality of voting

“I can vote. I will vote. I must vote.”

Civil rights activist Rev. Jesse Jackson began his speech at 2 p.m. Friday in the Genome Sciences Building by engaging the audience with a call and response of this mantra.

Jackson interacted with the audience from the moment he took the floor.

An audience of more than 140 people immediately broke into applause upon Jackson speaking.

Jackson discussed America’s history of the walls – both literal and immaterial – that have been used to separate different races, genders and religions.

He said while America has come a long way, it’s still important to remember that there was a time when not every U.S. citizen had the right to vote.

“The right to vote preserves all other rights,” he said.

Jackson said he was not endorsing a particular candidate, but rather he was facilitating a tone to motivate everyone to vote regardless of political affiliation.

Alexis Davis, president of UNC’s Black Student Movement, gave the event’s introduction.

Davis said this presidential election will hold a special place in her heart because she was too young to vote in the 2008 election.

Sen. Floyd McKissick, D-Durham, who also introduced Jackson, urged students to consider the value political candidates place on education.

“Education is the passport to opportunity,” McKissick said. “It’s the one things that gets you from where you are today to where you want to go.”

“We can’t have people turn the hands of time backwards on education,” he said.

Jackson was a two-time presidential candidate and still is a well-known civil rights activist.

“I went to jail two days ago,” Jackson said, alluding to a Wednesday protest he was involved in and taken into custody for.

He and other protesters marched onto the property of Sensata Technologies, a producer of sensor devices for vehicles and appliances, which is moving its operations to China at the cost of 170 jobs at its Freeport, Ill. plant.

“The workers who went to jail with me were black and white, male and female,” he said.

Jackson continuously emphasized that regardless of race or gender, there are some basic liberties that should be extended to all U.S. citizens.

“We all look amazingly similar in the dark,” Jackson said. “It’s not so much black and white — it’s light and dark, wrong and right.”

Jackson said people who do not vote should lose their right to complain about the aspects of the government they don’t like.

“My favorite part of the lecture was anytime he had interaction with the audience, especially when we got to stand up (when he asked)‘Do you know anyone who’s suffering with student loans,’ ‘Do you know anyone who has a friend or family member in jail,’” Davis said.

“I feel like it just showed everyone, when we stood up and looked around, that we’re not alone.”

Jackson ended his speech by instructing the audience to be the best American citizens they can be.

Jackson’s exit, much like his entrance, evoked an enthusiastic response from the audience — he led the entire crowd to Rams Head Dining Hall for early voting.

“Repeat after me,” he said. “I will not have an unregistered voter as a roommate — they are too dangerous to sleep around.”

Contact the desk editor at university@dailytarheel.com.