Jesse Jackson endorses Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders

Jesse Jackson’s endorsement of Bernie Sanders for President is a perfect example of “turnabout is fair play.” In 1988, Sanders endorsed Jackson as a presidential candidate, which helped Jackson win Vermont. At the time, Sanders was mayor of Burlington, Vermont, and as Sanders notes, he was one of very few white politicians who supported Jackson in his presidential bid.

In a statement to CNN, Jackson gave the reason for his support of Sanders by saying, “With the exception of Native Americans, African Americans are the people who are most behind socially and economically in the United States and our needs are not moderate. A people far behind cannot catch up choosing the most moderate path. The most progressive social and economic path gives us the best chance to catch up and Senator Bernie Sanders represents the most progressive path. That’s why I choose to endorse him today.”

Jackson noted that Sanders made campaign commitments to him, including nominating an African-American woman to the Supreme Court and allocating $50 billion to HBCUs – yes, that’s “billion” with a “b.” Sanders praised Jackson as “one of the great civil rights leaders in our country,” and said it’s time to “move aggressively to wipe out all forms of racism in this country.”