- Archives

The Revs. Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton set aside their rivalry yesterday and appeared jointly at a church to exhort blacks to vote for Democrat John Kerry, who cast his own election as a continuation of the nation's civil rights struggle. With polls showing blacks support Kerry overwhelmingly, Jackson and Sharpton urged about 300 parishioners at Friendship Missionary Baptist Church to be sure to vote, warning against efforts to keep blacks from the polls on Nov. 2. "We are the swing vote," Jackson said, noting how blacks accounted for the margin of victory in recent key Senate races that Democrats won and were vital in twice electing Bill Clinton. "On Nov. 2, the power's in your hands, hands that once picked cotton," added Jackson, who has toured the country registering voters. The event came as black leaders and Democrats have raised concern that blacks might be illegally barred from voting in Florida. In 2000, when George W. Bush won Florida by 537 votes, hundreds of blacks trying to vote found they had been improperly removed from voting rolls because they were mistakenly identified as felons. Florida is one of a handful of states that bars felons from voting. [more

]

Among Black Voters, a Fervor to Make Their Ballots Count [more ]
Symbolic Leaders Sharpton and Jesse Jackson Unite for Kerry, if Not Necessarily Each Other [more ]

Kerry rallies Blacks at Florida churches [more ]
Sharpton and Jackson Vying to be President of Black America [more]