Jesse Jackson Calls for Change While Visiting Olivet Baptist Church

Jesse Jackson's message to Chattanooga wasn't all about Volkswagen Wednesday...

The Rev. also talked about inequality.

He says Civil Rights have come a long way...but there's still more work to be done...

A crowd of well over a 1000 cheered as Rev. Jesse Jackson took the stage.

Jackson took his Civil Rights message to the people at Olivet Baptist Church Wednesday...

Daphne Stargin of Chattanooga says, "To be that close to him and to hear the things that he said...it was just amazing."

He praised achievements in the African-American community, but said there is still inequality, "Beyond slavery, beyond Jim Crow, beyond the right to vote is access to capital, industry, and technology."

Jackson called for sweeping changes in the health and welfare of the African American community and he called for change in America's economics, "So far we've stimulated the banks. That's watering the leaves, but we must get to the roots where the people are languishing in unemployment."

For many the Civil Right's Icon's message struck close to home.

Desmond Gearing of Chattanooga says, "It was the truth. He spoke the truth."

Jackson laid out a mission statement of getting stimulus money to the people, reinvesting in America, bringing a moratorium on home foreclosures, and debt relief for student loans, "While GM and Chrysler can bail out with bankruptcy, student loans are non-dischargeable."

And as always, he called for an end to violence, "Stop the Violence. Say stop the violence..."

Jackson came to Chattanooga during the civil unrest of 1980....when three klansmen got a non-guilty verdict in the shooting of an African-American woman.