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Jackson says Obama 'acting white' on civil rights case

BY GLENN THRUSH | glenn.thrush@newsday.com

September 19, 2007

WASHINGTON - The Rev. Jesse Jackson has accused Barack Obama of "acting like he's white," claiming the candidate hasn't spoken out on behalf of six Jena, La., students charged in a 2006 racially charged brawl, according to South Carolina's The State newspaper

Jackson, who made the remark Tuesday, told the Chicago Tribune later yesterday that "acting white" isn't a phrase he uses regularly, and that it doesn't accurately represent his feelings about Obama, whom he supports for the Democratic presidential nomination.

Obama, meanwhile, sought to take Jackson's comments out of a racial context, saying he thinks the discussion about the case isn't "a matter of black and white," but rather "a matter of right and wrong."

As word of Jackson's remarks spread Wednesday morning, Sen. Hillary Clinton appeared on Rev. Al Sharpton's radio show, saying she was "very worried about what has happened."

But she also said she couldn't condone the beating of a white student by six black classmates, even if the black students believed they had been wronged. The black students were charged with attempted murder, although some of the charges were reduced after the negative publicity.

Obama said he was a vocal supporter of the teens, who beat a white student after finding nooses hung on a tree at Jena High School that whites wanted to keep as a white-only gathering place. In fact, Obama said, Jackson's son, Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., had advised him on what to say.

Neither Obama or Clinton plan to attend a Sharpton-sponsored rally on behalf of the teens today in Jena. The teens' supporters say the case spotlights racial inequities in the criminal justice system.

This story was supplemented by Chicago Tribune reports