Politics & Government
E.W. Jackson: Government is Worse for Black People than Slavery
Chesapeake pastor and attorney E.W. Jackson is the Republican nominee for lieutenant governor of Virginia.
Virginia Republican lieutenant governor candidate E.W. Jackson isn't letting up with comments that have brought him at least as much attention as Ken Cuccinelli, the GOP gubernatorial candidate on top of the ticket.
On Wednesday, Jackson told a crowd in Newport News that U.S. government policies have been worse for “the black family” than slavery.
Jackson delivered remarks during an event to commemorate Juneteenth, the holiday marking the end of slavery.
“Slavery did not destroy the black family, even though it was certainly an attack on the black family,” he said.
Instead, Jackson said it was government programs launched in the 1960s that drove black families apart. (Watch a clip of his speech in this video.)
“In 1960 most black children were raised in two-parent, monogamous families," said Jackson, a Chespeake minister and activist. "By now, by this time, we only have 20 percent of black children being raised in two-parent, monogamous families with a married man and woman raising those children. It wasn't slavery that did that. It was government that did that trying to solve problems that only God can solve, and that only we as human beings can solve."
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About a month ago, Jackson was criticized for a 2012 video in which he chided African-Americans for their “slavish devotion” to the Democratic Party and said Planned Parenthood had been more lethal to black citizens than the Ku Klux Klan.
Jackson said he is the direct descendent of slaves and sharecroppers in Orange County, VA.
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“Their family was more intact than the black family is today,” Jackson said of his great grandparents.
Jackson’s rhetoric has been the subject of media scrutiny and come under fire from Democrats since he won the nomination for lieutenant governor at the GOP convention in May.
Jackson will face Virginia Sen. Ralph Northam (D-Norfolk) for lieutenant governor in the November general election.
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