Omega News

Jackson: 'Ethical Gap' Harms Women; Civil Rights Leader Calls On Men At Dayton's Omega Baptist Church To Respect And Protect Community's Women.

From the Dayton Daily News
Monday, May 21, 2007

BYLINE: By Amelia Robinson Staff Writer

DAYTON - The notions of freedom and creativity don't give men the right to call women derogatory names, one of the nation's leading civil rights leaders said during a sermon Sunday at Omega Baptist Church.

"This is not a generational gap. This is an ethical gap. This is not about young and old," the Rev. Jesse Jackson said. "This is about right and wrong."

Jackson was in town this weekend to help celebrate the 19th pastoral anniversary of his longtime friends, the Revs. Daryl Ward and Vanessa Oliver Ward, pastors at Omega.

"Most churches can't find one great pastor," he told the crowd at the predominately black Salem Avenue church." You have two."

The service Sunday also included selections from the church's choir, praise dancers and a performance from TriBlessed, a Cincinnati-based Christian hip-hop group that encouraged people to throw away music with unholy and negative messages.

On Sunday Jackson called the men of Omega to the front of the church and challenged them to become more involved in the community and their families.

Blacks must rebuild the wall of dignity that sustained them while they prayed and fought for freedom, he said, adding that doing so includes respecting and protecting women. Jackson wept when discussing sacrifices his own mother made to raise him.

"Whether you are 8 or 80 you should respect your girlfriend the way you would want you mother to be respected," he said.

Jackson and others have called for media, musicians, entertainers and others to stop using degrading terms for women.

He helped lead the recent charge that resulted in shockjock Don Imus being fired by CBS Radio and NBC for referring to the players on the Rutgers University women's basketball team as "nappy-headed hos."

"If we are men, we shouldn't call women bitches. Women shouldn't take it," Jackson said. "We shouldn't call women hos and they shouldn't take it."

Jackson criticized the Bush administration, the war in Iraq and the 2004 expiration of the ban on sales of assault weapons.

Jackson is founder and president of Rainbow/Push Coalition. A Dayton Rainbow/Push chapter is forming.

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2384 or arobinson@DaytonDailyNews.com