• COVID-19 Resources
  • About
  • Subscribe
  • Promotions
  • Advertise
  • Contact Us
  • July 1, 2025

Milwaukee Courier Weekly Newspaper

"THE NEWSPAPER YOU CAN TRUST SINCE 1964"

  • News
  • Editorials
  • Education
  • Urban Business
  • Health
  • Religion
  • Upcoming Events
  • Classifieds
EXCEPT WHERE INDICATED, THE OPINIONS EXPRESSED ON THIS PAGE ARE NOT NECESSARILY THOSE OF THE MILWAUKEE COURIER

Share:

  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook
  • Tweet
  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window) Email
  • Click to print (Opens in new window) Print

Leaders Provide Vision – Not Division

December 19, 2015

By Jesse Jackson

Jesse Jackson

Jesse Jackson

Leaders provide vision. They help people understand where they are, how they got there and what they must do to go forward. They help calm nerves and strengthen courage.

They are steady in times of trouble, inspiring in times of demoralization.

Donald Trump’s reaction to the terrorist acts in Egypt, Lebanon, Paris and San Bernardino, Calif., both divides and weakens us. And for the most part, his rivals for the republican presidential nomination have allowed him to lead the Republican Party and its run to the White House to ignominy.

Americans are understandably worried. We have been fighting wars in the Middle East for over a decade.

We lost thousands of lives and spent trillions of dollars in a wrong-headed war of choice in Iraq.

We toppled the Taliban in Afghanistan, Saddam Hussein in Iraq, Muammar Qaddafi in Libya, producing failed states and generating more terrorists.

Now, we are trying to take out Assad in Syria, even as his mortal enemy ISIS takes credit for terrorist horrors in Paris and Beirut.

The violence keeps spreading; the terrorists keep reviving. Americans grow more and more worried.

The task of leadership is to provide clarity and a strategy that quells fears and offers a way out. Mr. Trump has chosen instead to foster greater fear, to divide us one from another, while calling on us to abandon our own values.

It is time for people of conscience to once more stand up.

We are not in a war with our brothers and sisters of the Muslim faith. They are neighbors and friends.

Some volunteer to defend this country. American Muslims despise ISIS and the way terrorists distort and disgrace their religion.

We should not lock our doors or close our hearts to those who are the victims of ISIS and the terror in Syria and Iraq, whatever their religion or tribe.

The threat to lock out Muslims is harmful, hurtful and divisive.

It is immoral and perversely counterproductive. There are more Muslims than Americans.

ISIS may declare war on Western civilization, but that just illustrates their madness.

We are not at war with Islam.

We are at war with terrorists who threaten our people.

We want to enlist the overwhelming majority of Muslims to stand with us, not provoke them to stand against us.

In this Christmas season, we should not forget that after his birth in a manger, Taliban was a refugee, fleeing into Egypt with his parents from the threat of Roman violence.

He taught us to care for the stranger on the Jericho Road, not spurn and scorn him.

I grew up under segregation, locked out because of the color of my skin.

The race test was hurtful because I could never pass it.

The same is true of the call to exclude all Muslims. We must speak forcefully against those who would mindlessly impose a religion test for entry into the U.S., and those who would call for closing down mosques or cracking down on places where Muslims gather peacefully.

America will not defeat terrorism by dividing one from another.

Terror is the weapon of the weak. For a people with hope, the hate of ISIS has no attraction. For people who are integrated into a society, the ISIS call to violence goes unanswered.

ISIS calls for jihad, arguing the West is waging war on Islam. We need to isolate the terrorists, not inflate them.

We need to give lie to their calumnies, not provide evidence for them.

Anyone who aspires to lead this country ought to demonstrate they will respect and defend the values on which it has been built. In this time of trouble, Mr. Trump and many of his rivals are denigrating the very principles that make America strong.

Share:

  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook
  • Tweet
  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window) Email
  • Click to print (Opens in new window) Print

Popular Interests In This Article: Jesse Jackson

Read More - Related Articles

  • Keeping Hope Alive: Rev. Jesse Jackson’s Message Inspires a New Generation to Vote
  • Mandatory College Football Practices at Time of Pandemic are Nuts
  • ‘I Can’t Breathe – The Murder of George Floyd was a Lynching in Broad Daylight.’
  • Americans Have United Before to Defeat an External Enemy and we can Again
  • The Right to Vote Should Not Fall Victim to Partisan Battles
Become Our Fan On Facebook
Find Us On Facebook


Follow Us On X
Follow Us On X

Editorials

Lakeshia Myers
Michelle Bryant
Dr. Kweku Akyirefi Amoasi formerly known as Dr. Ramel Smith

Journalists

Karen Stokes

Topics

Health Care & Wellness
Climate Change
Upcoming Events
Obituaries
Milwaukee NAACP

Politicians

David Crowley
Cavalier Johnson
Marcelia Nicholson
Governor Tony Evers
President Joe Biden
Vice President Kamala Harris
Former President Barack Obama
Gwen Moore
Milele A. Coggs
Spencer Coggs

Classifieds

Job Openings
Bid Requests
Req Proposals
Req Quotations
Apts For Rent

Contact Us

Milwaukee Courier
2003 W. Capitol Dr.
Milwaukee, WI 53206
Ph: 414.449.4860
Fax: 414.906.5383

Copyright © 2025 · Courier Communications | View Privacy Policy | Site built and maintained by Farrell Marketing Technology LLC
We use third-party advertising companies to serve ads when you visit our website. These companies may use information (not including your name, address, email address, or telephone number) about your visits to this and other websites in order to provide advertisements about goods and services of interest to you. If you would like more information about this practice and to know your choices about not having this information used by these companies, click here.