Photo courtesy of Jesse Jackson/ Instagram.
Reverend Jesse Jackson was arrested by the Capitol Police after protesting at the Hart Senate Building on June 23, according to CNN.
Rev. Jackson was in Washington, D.C., to pressure Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) to end the filibuster and pass a voting rights bill and when he was arrested.
Rev. William Barber II was also arrested at the protest. The civil rights icon and Barber had hoped to speak with Manchin and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) about the voting rights bill, but they were arrested before they got inside the Hart Senate Building. Jackson is 79-years-old and suffers from Parkinson’s disease.
Barber and Jackson were protesting earlier at the U.S. Supreme Court for the “Moral March on Manchin and McConnell” rally. The rally was organized by the Poor People’s Campaign, which pressures politicians to fix policies that hurt the poor. Jackson talked about just laws and living wages when he spoke at the rally.
“Law must be just,” said Jackson. “We come — not from the insurrection but as a resurrection, from a loving, caring place. Americans have an addiction to maintaining slave labor. #votingmatters#rpcconv2021.”
Barber focused on ending the filibuster and passing voter rights, which he said is what the people who Manchin represents in West Virginia want.
“@Sen_JoeManchin, listen to your constituents from WV who came to DC on Wednesday. They say you don’t speak for them. They say #EndTheFilibuster & pass voting rights, living wages, infrastructure, etc,” Barber said..
Dr. Shardé M. Davis caught the arrest on video and posted it to Twitter. She also posted a caption with the video.
“Went to visit a friend at the Capitol & walk into the #PoorPeoplesCampaign protest over the #FILIBUSTER. Next thing I know, Rev. Jesse Jackson & Pastor Dr. William Barber II are getting arrested!”
Twitter definitely had something to say about Rev. Jackson’s arrest.
Barber told CNN that Republicans purposely suppressed voting rights because of racism and hurt everyone.
“When you start rolling back voter registration, rolling back early voting, undermining mail in balloting, putting limits on people even being able to get water, doing racist gerrymandering, class-based gerrymandering, you hurt Black people, you hurt white people, you hurt Asians, Natives, Latinos, young people and the disabled.”
Twenty others were arrested with Rev. Jackson and Rev. Barber at the protest. They were reportedly “field arrested,” which means they were arrested and given a ticket but not taken to jail.