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Rev Jesse Jackson recently attended an event held at the Oasis Centre, hosted by Christian Aid, church.co.uk and Charities Parliament, urging local activists and church leaders to engage with issues of justice, as well as highlighting the importance of racial equality.
‘Racial profiling is deeply rooted in ignorance and fear and hatred which leads to violence.’
The words of world-famous civil rights activist Rev Jesse Jackson, after new research has further highlighted an ongoing problem in society: ‘Black people are 26 times more likely than white people to be stopped and searched by police in England and Wales.’ Click here for article. This statistic speaks volumes.
After fighting for equality of rights in America back in the mid 50’s- 60’s, and being a close aide to Dr Martin Luther King Jr. we know Rev Jesse Jackson has proved his dedication to fighting to ensure equality of rights for all.
Although we are a multicultural society, it seems as though in some respects we aren’t entirely moving forward, as the ever present and unjust targeting of specific races continues to crop up.
Jesse Jackson says: ‘I am coming to London to show the hope of us living together, and the dangers of us living apart.’
Hopefully Rev Jackson’s visit will inspire us to want to eradicate racial profiling and highlight the reasons we cannot afford to continue with this ‘ugly and immoral’ way of living.
The big question is: Will there ever be globalisation of human rights, or is it an unattainable ideal?
After coming across an article recently, I’m instantly drawn to the claims of new book The Faith of Generation Y. In short, the message is clear: young people don’t seem to believe in God anymore.
‘For many young people, religious observance extends no further than praying in their bedrooms during moments of crisis…’
The unfortunate thing is, a claim like this is in my experience fairly accurate, as it is getting more and more scarce getting a firm ‘yes!’ to the ‘do you go to church’ question, but rather a hesitant ‘I pray though.’
Is it just religion that generation y are not engaging with or are they opting out of other areas of life? According to the Youth Citizenship Commission, a study last year revealed that ‘ Some 76 per cent of young people feel they cannot influence government decisions’ and ‘82 per cent of young people don’t trust politicians to make the right decisions for them.’ Click here
Therefore there seems to be fewer young people joining political parties, fewer young people engaging in acts of political campaigning. Maybe my generation are just apathetic, and have given up altogether on the things conventionally deemed boring, and things they feel they have no control over i.e. religion and politics.
So does this all mean that in order to appeal to the masses, religion, politics and even simple things such as volunteering must be sexed up?
Does How Great Thou Art have to be remixed with a funky beat, and sung with some cleverly auto tuned vocals in order for non-believing young people to recognise a hymn? Do political parties have to introduce celebrities in order to wow us into action, does every campaign against poverty have to have a Bono or a Jolie involved?
The question is: if young people are already firmly rooted in this ‘secular trinity of themselves, friends and family’ how can they change what may have in effect become some sort of religion, and start believing in God politics or a cause bigger than themselves?
It’s a very interesting concept and thought provoking article which makes me want to further explore this idea, locate the book ASAP, pick up a Bible or a political manifesto and question why the passion for fame, instant gratification and money has overshadowed the passion for serving God, our community or our country and whether — in this secular world of Gaga, BB’s, ipads and all the other techno takeover– generation Y will ever begin to genuinely engage with something of value, depth and sacrifice.
