Letter: Jackson's actions in Illinois were way out of line

There was a time when I respected the Rev. Jesse Jackson.

And why shouldn't I? He has worked with some of the greatest civil rights leaders of the 20th century.

He has been fortunate enough to call Dr. Martin Luther King and Nelson Mandella his friends. How could one be any closer to the pulse of worldwide civil rights issues?

Unfortunately, the Rev. Jackson has succeeded in losing a great deal of my respect due to his actions revolving around Decatur, Ill.

Six students were expelled from the city's high school because they got into a "brawl" at a football game. This was no little fight in the hallway. This was an incident that included at least six students and probably more at a public/community school event. There is not a school in this country that would not expel students over an incident like this.

The Rev. Jackson marches with 2,000 people down the streets of Decatur proclaiming that "no tolerance" to violence in our public schools should be changed to "OK, we'll allow some violence."

Students who are violent or who disrupt the educational process belong in alternative schools, not mainstream education.

It makes me sick that he compares an attempt to reinstate violent teens into a public school to the trials and tribulations of Martin Luther King and Nelson Mandella. It's as if he is spitting on the civil rights movement and public education at the same time. If Martin Luther King were alive today, I'm sure that he would have lost respect for the Rev. Jesse Jackson as well.

JASON D. MARTIN

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