Jesse Jackson Leads Tribute to Officer Jackson

An impressive array of black community leaders, celebrities and politicians--led by the Rev. Jesse Jackson--gathered in Hollywood on Sunday evening to pay tribute to Don Jackson, the Hawthorne police sergeant and self-styled crusader against alleged police abuse of minorities.

More than 500 supporters, who jammed a ballroom at the Hollywood Roosevelt, donated more than $15,000 to Don Jackson, who is on disability leave.

The Rev. Jackson, who earlier in the day joined striking Eastern Airline mechanics in a picket line at Los Angeles International Airport, called Don Jackson “a hero, and the messenger before the storm.”

Assemblywoman Maxine Waters (D-Los Angeles) organized the tribute to Jackson, who gained national recognition in January, when an NBC camera crew filmed him as a Long Beach police officer apparently pushed him through a plate glass window.

State Sen. Diane Watson (D-Los Angeles) called Jackson “an ordinary person who has done extraordinary things. . . . So often when you go out a limb there is no tree there to support you. We are your tree. No one is going to mess with you, because when they mess with you, they mess with us.”

Life in Possible Danger

Waters told the gathering that Jackson’s life could be in danger and that they should “keep their eyes out for him.”

Don Jackson, 31, has been criticized as a dangerous provocateur by police in Long Beach and in other Los Angeles-area cities, where he has launched his so-called “sting” operations.

Don Jackson, whose birthday was Sunday, said the party--which reached revival-meeting fervor when Dionne Warwick sang “That’s What Friends Are For”--would reinvigorate him as he prepares to stand trial Wednesday on a charge of obstructing a police officer in the Long Beach incident.

“I’m overwhelmed,” Jackson said. “I’ve been struggling with this issue for over seven years and I never thought I would see what I’m seeing today--support from the people who I am working for. . . .”

The Rev. Jackson ended his 20-minute speech by urging the crowd to make donations to Jackson, who has received just a fraction of his full pay since he went on stress disability leave after several alleged incidents of racism within the Hawthorne department.

Blames Reagan

The Rev. Jackson said the brutality of which Don Jackson has complained had its roots in the Reagan Administration and “eight years of an absence of moral leadership in the White House, which has put a curse on our nation.

“If you haven’t been brutalized in this environment, it’s only because your number hasn’t come up in the lottery,” he said.

“President Bush should exalt you,” the clergyman told Don Jackson. “You’re the best America has.”