JESSE IN JERSEY: THE MONEY WILL SET US FREE
January 14, 2002 -- The Rev. Jesse Jackson joined more than 40 black ministers in a Newark church to announce an alliance he said would bring "financial liberation" to New Jersey's inner cities.
Jackson told a news conference at the Metropolitan Baptist Church that ending "economic exploitation" is just one more phase of the ongoing civil-rights movement, which he said did not end when blacks secured the right to vote.
"Now they use income as the basis of separation instead of race," he said.
Jackson said the details of the economic agenda are still being determined, but the alliance will focus on bringing "financial literacy" to urban communities.
Jackson said the group plans to negotiate better relationships with New Jersey banks and to help close a gap in what he considers an unequal system of education in New Jersey.
"We must now fight a new civil-rights movement for equal access to education," he said.
Newark Mayor Sharpe James and New Jersey's two Democratic senators, John Corzine and Robert Torricelli, also attended the news conference.
AP