Jackson Calls for Action on Race Profiling
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CHICAGO — The Rev. Jesse Jackson on Saturday called for Congress to hold hearings on racial profiling among police, in the judicial system and in expulsion policies in schools.
“This is an old, sick phenomenon with a new name,” said Jackson during a rally at his Chicago headquarters. “It used to be called just racism. Now they dress it up and call it racial profiling.”
Jackson was flanked by attorney Johnnie L. Cochran Jr. and several Highland Park, Ill., police officers. The officers have accused the city’s department of targeting minority drivers.
He also announced plans for a Chicago “Day of Dignity” march on April 4 that will focus on ending the “expelling, shelling and jailing” of minorities. April 4 is the day when the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in Memphis, Tenn., in 1968.
Jackson had hoped to make his announcement with Kadiatou Diallo, mother of slain West African immigrant Amadou Diallo, and the Rev. Al Sharpton at his side. But they canceled because Diallo was ill.
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