Changing Minds : Jesse Jackson Tells Juvenile Delinquents to ‘Choose Life’

When the Rev. Jesse Jackson finished his 40-minute oration, there was silence in the brick chapel where the toughest juveniles of the local detention center gathered Friday.

Jackson had spoken of hope and of the power to change. He had the youngsters kneel and pray. At least two wept. And they repeated at Jackson’s command the phrases: “I want to go home. I want to leave dope and guns and gangs and violence behind. I choose life over death.”

And in the silence that followed, a 17-year-old murder suspect named Caleb stood up, smoothed his orange work suit and cleared his throat.

“We want you to know, we just really appreciate you coming down here to talk to us,” the youth said. “We know you’re a busy man. It means a lot.”

Caleb then sauntered up to the lectern and buried himself in Jackson’s embrace.

Later, one detention center officer said of Jackson’s visit: “I think we hit a home run.”

Jackson and members of his National Rainbow Coalition were invited to the Sylmar juvenile hall to participate in the Los Angeles County Probation Department’s so-called peace campaign, which is aimed at persuading juvenile offenders to quit drugs, give up guns and stay out of jail.

The Sylmar center, a brick-and-glass compound of one-story buildings circled by fences topped with razor wire, sits in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains near the Golden State Freeway. It is one of three detention centers operated by the county, and home to about 700 juvenile offenders, ages 11 to 18.

When Jackson walked into the plain brick-walled chapel and greeted the group of 150 juveniles--divided evenly between boys and girls--they sat stone-faced, some slouching in their seats.

“I am delighted to see you,” Jackson began. “But not to see you here. You don’t belong here.”

Summoning his skill as an orator, Jackson in his speech touched upon familiar and historic heroes of the civil rights movement, citing the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks as examples of the power, and the duty, of youth to change society.

Jackson told the group that much of society was instead scrambling to accommodate its fear of young people, choosing to build new prisons instead of better schools.

“They are already building new jail cells for you,” Jackson said “The ‘three-strikes’ law is aimed at you, too. They get elected by promising to lock you up.”

Young delinquents contribute to the problem by quitting school and joining gangs, Jackson said. To underscore his point, Jackson asked how many of the audience had been to jail before, and nearly every hand went up.

When he asked how many had not finished high school, he got the same response.

And when it was over, Jackson signed some autographs and was gone. But his message remained, said many who heard him.

“He’s saying that there is hope, no matter how deep in trouble you get,” said Lorina, 18, of Van Nuys. “Some of us want to change. We really want to change. I don’t think many people believe that.”