Jackson Tells Students to Help Rebuild City : Education: He tells UCLA and Jordan High audiences to register to vote and to get involved in healing process.

Calling upon young people to “seize the power” by registering to vote, the Rev. Jesse Jackson returned to riot-scarred Los Angeles on Tuesday and, in back-to-back appearances in Westwood and Watts, implored college and high school students to get involved in rebuilding their city.

At a noontime rally outdoors at UCLA, Jackson told more than 1,000 college students to “use the crisis of this moment” to mobilize in the aftermath of the not guilty verdicts in the Rodney G. King beating case and the unrest they spawned. Two hours later, Jackson stood in the auditorium at David Starr Jordan High School and asked several hundred teen-agers to do the same.

“When young America comes alive, the whole world gets better. You are the solution, not the problem,” Jackson bellowed, looking into the crowd of mostly African-American and Latino students in grades nine through 12. Then, just as he had at UCLA, he summoned to the podium those who had not yet registered to vote, shook hands with each and watched while they filled out registration forms.

Jackson said his reason for being in Los Angeles was to deliver a message of hope and empowerment to the city’s young people. And at least a few of those people said they appreciated his efforts.

“He just let us realize how many of us (there) really are. Like he said, we’re a force,” said Sean Campbell, 19, a UCLA freshman who was filling out his voter registration form under the watchful eye of Jackson.

Treshelle Taylor, 17, a junior at Jordan High School, agreed. She said she would not have registered if she hadn’t heard Jackson speak. Citizens may register at 17 but must be 18 to vote.

“I didn’t know you could vote and still be in high school,” she said. “He got everybody interested.”

But Jackson talked about more than stemming voter apathy. Though he never mentioned Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton, the likely Democratic presidential nominee, or independent candidate H. Ross Perot, Jackson asked his audiences to “send Bush and Quayle back to private life.”

“I’ve got a plan y’all--a 20-year plan. It starts today!” he said at UCLA. By cutting the military budget in half, he said, the nation could afford to create what he called a Domestic Development Bank to fund the rebuilding of not only South Los Angeles but America as a whole.

He ticked off a wish-list of social services--”Job-fare, day care, prenatal care”--that he said constituted “front-side” investments that would prevent expensive “jail care, welfare and despair on the backside.”

“If women don’t have day care and they work and something happens to the child, they’re ‘unfit.’ If they stay home, they’re ‘lazy,’ ” he said, as he described his recipe for a better, less “hypocritical” world.

“I did not run for President this year,” he added, “but it’s good to know I’m qualified.”

At UCLA, Jackson’s speech appeared to be carefully constructed to exclude no one. He began by mentioning Malcolm X, who would have been 67 today, and Rosa Parks, who took a famous step forward for civil rights when she refused to ride in the back of a bus. Then, repeating his call to “turn pain to power,” he broadened his scope.

“You must lead the drive to fight bigotry, racism, sexism and ethno-cynicism, Asian-bashing, Arab-bashing and homophobia,” he said, his voice echoing off the walls in Westwood Plaza. “You must lead the drive!”

At Jordan High School, where Jackson shared the stage with Los Angeles Laker Byron Scott, his message was personal as well as political. Reminding students of Magic Johnson, the former Laker who is infected with the AIDS virus, he told youngsters to abstain not only from unsafe sex but also from “sex without love.” He asked them to resist drugs and to oppose violence.

“Please hear me,” he said, quieting the youngsters with a wave of his hand. “When you combine unsafe sex with unsafe drugs with unsafe study habits and unsafe family values, the result is living at risk. The end will always be tragic and never magic.”