After being warmly received Monday by hundreds of people attending the Rainbow/PUSH 20th Annual Scholarship Breakfast held as a youth scholarship fundraiser and in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., U.S. Senate candidate Cheryle Jackson picked up a key
After being warmly received Monday by hundreds of people attending the Rainbow/PUSH 20th Annual Scholarship Breakfast held as a youth scholarship fundraiser and in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., U.S. Senate candidate Cheryle Jackson picked up a key endorsement from the Chicagoland Black Press.
Speaking at a press conference at the Sheraton hotel downtown, where the breakfast was held, Jackson said getting backing from N’Digo Magazine, WVON-AM/1690, the Chicago Defender, the Chicago Crusader and the Chicago Citizen newspapers, CROE-TV, the South Street Journal, the Windy City Word, Star Planet and the South Suburban News, among others, on the day observed to commemorate King was apropos.
Quoting the slain civil rights leader who said, “Our lives begin to end the day we are silent on things that matter,” Jackson explained her longstanding partnership with Black media.
“Many of the media here that are endorsing me today have stood with me as we both have come together to be a voice to the things that matter most to people,” said Jackson, the only African American running for the seat vacated by Barack Obama after he was elected president.
“This Senate seat is very, very important to the African American community and we need a voice in the most powerful, august body in the Unites States of America,” Chicago Defender President Michael House said at the press conference, calling Jackson “the most qualified” of the candidates.
Jackson is running against state Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias, David Hoffman, Jacob Meister and Robert Marshall in the Feb. 2 primary for the seat now held by Sen. Roland Burris.
“Cheryle Jackson has proven that she knows how to create employment,” Elroy Reed of Star Planet said. He encouraged support for Jackson by “progressive others who want employment, who want fair housing, who want fairness in government.”
Though she is the only Black candidate in the race, and many in the Black community have been vocal in their desire to have a Black replace Obama in the Senate, Jackson quickly rebuffed reporters’ suggestions that her campaign is relegated to support mainly from the Black community and has a racial slant.
“We’ve been running a statewide campaign, reaching out to everyone – all Illinoisans,” she said Monday. “Reaching out to anyone that … wants a job, reaching out to everyone who needs help with building their businesses; everyone who’s interested in the quality of education. Those issues do not know gender or race.”
In addition to Monday’s endorsement, Jackson was recently named the candidate of choice for the Thornton and Proviso Township Regular Democratic Organizations, Shields Township in Lake County and the South Suburban Mayors Task Force.
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