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Rev. Jesse Jackson Discusses 'Ugly, Divisive' Political Climate On CityViews

NEW YORK (1010 WINS) -- In this installment of City Views, Sharon Barnes-Waters sits down with Civil Rights leader and activist the Rev. Jesse Jackson. His work continues through the Rainbow PUSH Coalition that's having a three-day summit in New York City next month.

Jackson talked about the spirit of the Women's March on Washington saying that they came together in hopes of moving forward and that "hope must sustain us." As his slogan says, "Keep Hope Alive."

Barnes-Waters asked Jackson how he viewed the political climate now in the United States.

Jackson said it's "An ugly, divisive climate. We've overcome so much and we're going back. I grew up, born in Greenville, South Carolina at a time when African Americans ... we didn't have the right to use hotels, motels, parking lots but we overcame that."

Jesse Jackson, Sharon Barnes-Waters
Rev. Jesse Jackson with Sharon Barnes-Waters. (Joe Cingrana/CBSNewYork)

Jackson also said, "This has been a very ugly campaign season: trying to take away the legitimacy of President Barack Obama, saying he was not born here, saying he founded ISIS -- a terrorist organization -- which is not true, calling Hillary Clinton a crook and a nasty woman, banning Muslims. It's been an ugly season and then an even uglier campaign in the election process because the winner lost and the loser won. It created some consternation. Hillary got 3 million more votes and then they said she's not the winner because of the electoral college, built upon the slave formula. It's the law, but it's unjust law, just like Three-Fifths human was unjust law. Then you have the case of the Russian hacking factor, we do not know the depths of it yet. Then you have the FBI factor. But what was not dealt with much was voter suppression. There is no evidence of the fraud, there's a lot of evidence of the suppression. So much so the Justice Department had to intervene to stop it in Texas and North Carolina and Michigan and Wisconsin and North Dakota."

Regarding the infrastructure commitment made by President Donald Trump, Jackson said, "We need cities rebuilt, not walls built, as a matter of fact. We need to deal with the issue of lack of healthcare and education and job preparation for the global competition."

Click on the video above the watch the entire interview.

For more information on registration for the the 20th Annual Rainbow PUSH Wall Street Project Economic Summit on February 15th-17th visit www.rainbowpushwallstreetproject.or or call (646) 569-5889.

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