Jesse L. Jackson Sr., who presently
serves as host of CNN’s Both Sides with Jesse
Jackson and president of the Rainbow Coalition,
is for many, a forerunner for the presidential elec
tion in 2000. After two presidential attempts in
1984 and 1988 proved unsuccessful and the scan
dal surrounding the Clinton-Oore team continues,
Jackson might prove to be a contender^
Jackson attended North Carolina
Agricultural & Technical State University in 1961
and entered the Chicago Theological Seminary in
1964, By 1965, he became a full time civil-rights
activist and worked alongside Martin Luther King
.Jn 1984, he became the first
African American, to make a
serious run for president and in
1988 he received twice as many
votes for his second attempt.
Jr. and Andrew Young. In 1971, he organized
Operation Push and became president of the
National Rainbow Coalition in 1984. Also in
1984, he became the first African American to
make a serious run for president, and in 1988 he
received twice as many votes for his second
attempt.
Jesse Jackson Jr. was elected to the
House of Representatives in 1995 and cuitently
serves on the House Committee on Banking and
Finance Services and the Committee on Small
Business.
He graduated from North Carolina
Agricultural and Technical State University in
1987, he went on to earn a Master’s degree from
Chicago Theological Semmary and in 1993,
received his law degree from the University of
Illinois College of Law.
Garnishing praise from the African-American
community after the 1995 Million Man March,
Louis Farrakhan, the leader of the Nation
of Islam, could also exhibit even stronger leader
ship capabilities. As Louis Eugene Walcott, his
bir^ name, he was invited to attend a Nation of
Islam’s Savior’s Day Convention.
After immersing himself in the Nation of
Islam and working his way up, in 1979, he found
ed the internationally circulated ^*The Final Call.”
In 1991, he re-introduced the Three Year
Economic Pro^m to establish an economic base
for black-owned businesses. After the success of
the Million Man March in 1995, Farrakhan went
on a World Friendship Tour of Africa — which
included being received by Libyan leader and
American foe Muammar Ghadafi — that caused
both praise and scandal. In 1996, he formed a
coalition of religious, civic and political organiza
tions to represent minorities.
J.C. Watts Jr. (R-OK), who was first elect
ed to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1994,
has proven his leadership abilities from the start.
He started the Community Renewal Project, a
program that gives spiritual, moral and economic
power to poorer communities.
He serves on the Transportation and
National Security Committees and the board of
representatives of the Fellowship of Christian
Athletes of Oklahoma. He also serves as the
leader for the Orphan Foundation of America and
the March of Dimes.
He is a graduate of the University of
Oklahoma, where he served as the football team’s
quarterback leading them to consecutive Big
Eight championships and Orange Bowl Victories,
He gained national attention after he
delivered the Republican response to President
Clinton’s 1997 State of the Union Address.
Black Ink
9