Rev. Jesse Jackson, 79, ARRESTED by Capitol Police at voting rights protest after vowing to ‘fill up the jails’
REVEREND Jesse Louis Jackson was arrested by Capitol Police at a voting rights protest on Wednesday after vowing to “fill up the jails.”
The 79-year-old political activist was “field arrested” by Capitol police for “illegal demonstration activity,” according to reports.
NBC News reported that Jackson and his fellow activist Bishop William Barber II, 57, were “arrested for ‘illegal demonstration activity‘ while protesting in support of voting rights.”
Both were processed, given a ticket, and not taken to jail, according to the news outlet.
Jackson was taken into custody not long after saying: “We come not as an insurrection group, but as a resurrection group” and “today we must fill up the jails,” Religion News Service reported.
“If you call yourself a child of God, you oughta act like it sometimes,” Jackson added.
Jackson, who has Parkinson’s Disease, and Barber were arrested along with other civil rights and religious activists outside the U.S. Senate in Washington, DC.
Prior to their arrest, they took part in the Poor People’s Campaign demonstration — where they protested GOP Sen. Mitch McConnell and Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin after the For the People Act failed to pass.
According to RNS, protesters urged Mancin and other lawmakers put an end to the filibuster and pass the voting rights legislation.
Demonstrators were photographed holding up signs reading: “Manchin, stop hurting West Virginia: Stop the filibuster,” “Sen. Mancin: Stop voter suppression,” and “We Resolve: Guarantee quality healthcare for all.”
Jackson appeared to confirm his arrest by retweeted photos of him and Barber leading people to “block the road at Hart Senate building.”
One of the tweets read: “Two giants of the nonviolent freedom struggle together, arrested to bring down another barrier to justice for all.”
Prior to the arrest on Wednesday, Barber said: “We are also here to say to Manchin: Any so-called Democrat who claims to support not the nonconstitutional filibuster over the constitutional guarantee that no state can deny or abridge the right to vote … you are assisting the Republicans in their extremism.
“Manchin, don’t you let sin block the salvation of this democracy and its soul.”
The protest comes one day after Republicans blocked the voting rights legislation.
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The Democrats introduced the ambitious legislation that would usher in one of the largest federally mandated expansions of voting rights since the 1960s.
Known as the For the People Act, the bill is meant to change almost every aspect of how elections are conducted.
The bill is meant to ultimately build a new campaign financial system for the people, and attempt to curb the influence of money in politics by limiting partisan influence.
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