THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, June 6, 1994 TAG: 9406060071
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: D1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JON FRANK, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: 940606 LENGTH: NEWPORT NEWS
Billed as the ``Empowerment and Stop the Violence Crusade,'' Jackson's Rainbow Coalition bus pulled into the Ivy Baptist Church lot and into a spillover crowd of about 1,200 people. The tour began in Dallas and concludes tomorrow in Washington with a meeting with Attorney General Janet Reno.
{REST} Jackson said he wants to preserve newly created congressional districts, including the 3rd District of Virginia, and promote his anti-violence crusade that is spreading a message of gun control and tough drug laws.
At more than a dozen stops around the country, Jackson praised the virtues of voter registration and the redrawn congressional districts, which have come under fire recently as being unfair to other political groups.
Redistricting has helped many areas send blacks to Congress for the first time, including Rep. Bobby Scott, D-3rd, who is the first black congressman to represent Virginia since Reconstruction. Scott helped introduce Jackson Sunday night.
Jackson admitted that many of the districts are peculiarly drawn, ``but the fact of the matter is the democracy is not based on appearance, it's based on function and the function is inclusion.
``If our mission is an inclusionary government of fair and shared power, we will make room for black, white, brown, male and female, and let us learn to live together and share power and share responsibility,'' he said.
He urged President Clinton to ``speak with authority'' against lawsuits that are challenging the black majority districts. Before his speech, Jackson gathered together unregistered voters at the church in an effort to begin the registration process.
On the issue of violence, Jackson said that the law should limit easy access to guns and stop the flow of drugs into the United States. He blamed the media for glorifying drugs and violence as a lifestyle.
In keeping with his Rainbow Coalition theme, Jackson claimed that his goals can be met only with an interracial approach. ``We must join hands across lines of race and do whatever we can to stop the madness and terror of violence.''
Sen. Charles S. Robb attended Jackson's crusade speech. Before going to Washington today, Jackson will make a stop in Richmond. The tour concentrated on Southern cities in Texas, Louisiana, Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas, as well as Virginia.
by CNB