In Ontario, Rev. Jesse Jackson demands…
In Ontario, Rev. Jesse Jackson demands foreclosure prevention
By Andrew Edwards | aedwards@scng.com | Inland Valley Daily Bulletin
December 6, 2009 at 12:00 a.m.
Photo Gallery: Rev. Jesse Jackson at Loveland Church
ONTARIO – Rev. Jesse Jackson on Sunday blasted the government for escalating military action abroad and bailing out banks at a time when everyday Americans are losing their homes.
"We're bailing out Herod and not the baby in the manger," Jackson said. "We're bailing out Wall Street and not the people in my street."
Jackson's speech blended calls to Christian faith with populist outrage while delivering his address during a Sunday morning service at Loveland Church.
He opened his words with soft tones and increased the volume as the speech went on. Jackson shouted so loudly near the end of his speech that the church's sound system could barely handle his voice.
"God will save our houses," Jackson exclaimed while speakers crackled. "God will save our jobs. God will save our children."
"God will," he continued to shout. "God will. God will."
Jackson is the founder of the Rainbow/Push coalition and one of the most visible figures of America's religious left. He spoke in Ontario after first visiting Loveland Church in Victorville. He also on Sunday visited the Fontana home of Bonnie Robinson, a woman who may be at risk of foreclosure.
Robinson said her husband died after cardiovascular surgery in March 2003. She said she is not yet received notice that her home could be soon repossessed, but is about 10 months behind on payments and cannot sell the home for what she owes.
"Most of our neighbors are in the same predicament," she said.
Loveland Church pastor Charles Singleton recalled Jackson's presidential campaigns of 1984 and 1988 while introducing the speaker. He said Jackson's efforts may have cleared a way for Barack Obama to become the United States' first black president.
"(He) opened the doors, I might dare say, like a fullback knocking down the opposition, so Barack Obama could win," Singleton said.
Jackson, however, on Sunday criticized major policies that Obama has supported. In Jackson's view, it was immoral for the government to bail out banks without taking action to prohibit foreclosures.
He said lenders should restructure loans instead of repossessing houses, making his case that what he called a tsunami of foreclosures are the result of the government failing to properly oversee financial institutions, not the fault of borrowers taking loans they could not afford.
In the early part of his speech, Jackson asked how many people in the audience knew someone looking for work. About half of the more than 200 congregants at Loveland rose to their feet.
When Jackson asked how many knew somebody facing foreclosure, about one third of those at Loveland stood.
Churchgoers generally sat down, however, after Jackson said if "you know someone who's willing to invest in Afghanistan and not in the valley, stand."
President Obama recently announced plans to send some 30,000 additional military personnel to Afghanistan to fight Taliban and Al Qaeda terrorists.
Jackson, whose public career launched in the civil rights movement, argued bankers steered blacks and Latinos into bad loans. He also called for student debt relief and criticized California's political culture, saying the state doesn't spend enough on schools and that something is wrong if the prison guards union has more influence than the teachers union.
Jackson was incorrect, however, in asserting that California spends more money on prisons than schools.
Education is still the biggest item on the state budget, followed by health and welfare spending and then the corrections system.
Jackson's audience included Dean Florez, the Democrat who leads the California Senate.
Florez said he anticipates new legislative proposals designed to address foreclosures will be submitted to the state Legislature within a month or so.
Andrew Edwards | reporter
Andrew Edwards is part of the Southern California News Group's business team and focuses on housing stories for the Inland Empire. He's based at the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin and has also worked for publications including the Long Beach Press-Telegram and The San Bernardino Sun. He graduated from UCLA in 2003 after studying political science and history.
aedwards@scng.com
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