Media Contacts: Don Terry
[email protected]
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 23, 2016
Rev. Jesse L. Jackson Sr. asks President Obama to Strike a Preemptive Blow against
Injustice and Pardon Secretary Hillary Clinton
November 23, 2016
President Barack Obama
White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington DC 20500
Dear President Obama,
I respectfully ask that you strike a preemptive blow against injustice.
For the good of the country, please pardon Secretary Hillary Clinton.
There are those in their misplaced anger and poisoned spirit of retribution who want to use Secretary
Clinton as a trophy in the name of (false) justice. But after all the allegations and hearings and testimony
over the years nothing rose to a level of a crime punishable by law.
Nothing.
Although, President-elect Donald J. Trump apparently now says he no longer wants to appoint a special
prosecutor to investigate Secretary Clinton as he has repeatedly promised to do, many of his supporters
continue to scream for her head. Chants of “lock her up” that echoed through the halls of Mr. Trump’s
campaign rallies can still be heard.
I would not put it past the next Attorney General to pursue this absurdity.
But Mr. President you can shut it all down once and for all by pardoning Secretary Clinton. This
outstanding American has endured enough.
She has been a trail blazer and a patriot all of her life. As you know so well, Mr. President, your former
Secretary of State has spent her career working tirelessly to make America safer, stronger and better,
starting with the precious foundation of our great nation – our children.
Despite her long and distinguished life in public service, Secretary Clinton has for decades been the victim
of scurrilous and politically motivated attacks on her family, record and character. These deplorable
assaults only intensified during the ugly presidential campaign of 2016 and now threaten to follow her for
years to come, further dividing our bitterly divided nation.
The country was also bitterly divided in 1974 when President Gerald Ford stepped up to silence the
partisan cries of anguish and anger by pardoning President Richard Nixon. While it was clear that
President Nixon would have been impeached and convicted and driven from office had he not been
pardoned, legally and technically he was never indicted, tried or convicted of anything. Yet, President
Ford, in his wisdom and courage, was determined to stop the potential harm, restrain the hemorrhaging
and heal the wound.
In our own highly partisan times in which we live, fairness and facts do not seem to matter. But I know
they still matter to you, Mr. President. So, in that spirit, I ask that you also pardon the legions of former
non-violent federal prisoners who have served their debt to society, yet continue to be denied the full
rights and privileges of citizenship. That is an injustice that must be corrected.
As Dr. Martin Luther King once said, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught
in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly,
affects all indirectly.”
Sincerely,
Reverend Jesse L. Jackson, Sr.
JLJ/amb
-30Rainbow PUSH Coalition is a multi-racial, multi-issue, progressive, international organization thatwas formed in December 1996 by the
Reverend Jesse L. Jackson, Sr. through merging of two organizations he founded Operation PUSH People United to Serve Humanity (estab.
1971) and the Rainbow Coalition (estab. 1984). With headquarters in Chicago and offices in Washington, D.C., Atlanta, Detroit, Houston, Los
Angeles, New York and Oakland, the organization works to make the American Dream a reality for all citizens while advocating for peace and
justice around the world. RPC is dedicated to improving the lives of all people by serving as a voice for the voiceless. Its mission is to protect,
defend and gain civil rights by leveling the economic and educational playing fields while promoting peace and justice around the world.
Get Informed & Be Social with PUSH!
Keep up with Rev. Jackson and the work of the Rainbow PUSH Coalition at www.rainbowpush.org.