Press Release

IT’S BP TIME!  Bigger Protests, Better Protests, Bolder Protests

WHO: Rev. Jesse L. Jackson Sr., founder and president of the Rainbow PUSH Coalition

WHAT: PRESS CONFERENCE

WHERE:  BP Gas Station 

              1221 South Wabash Avenue

              Chicago, IL 60605-2412

WHEN:  Monday, May 24, 2010 at 3:00 p.m.

WHY:  The Reverend Jesse L. Jackson, Sr., announced that the National Rainbow PUSH Coalition will be leading a protest in Chicago in front of a downtown British Petroleum (BP) gas station Monday afternoon.

"It's time the citizens of this country took our environmental crisis into our own hands," Reverend Jackson stated.  "It's time we found a new meaning for BP.  BP now needs to mean Bigger Protests.  Better Protests.  Bolder Protests.  It is clear that the corporation is not moving aggressively enough to save the Gulf, so it's time for us to move from anger to action."

Jackson, who spoke last month on the Washington Mall on the 40th anniversary of the original Earth Day, noted that the "blowback problems" from the Reagan/Bush Era of deregulation were all crashing down one after the other.  "The lack of regulation and oversight that the conservatives have forced upon the citizenry has left us with dirtier air, oilier water, chopped-up mountaintops, lead in our kids' toys, bacteria in our foods, a collapsing economy, and an overheated climate.  We've suffered through the Haliburton and Blackwater messes in Iraq.  We watched the Massey Coal crowd endanger their workers.  We've seen Goldman Sachs and Citibank banksters shatter our economy.  Now we're watching oil plumes from BP's well destroy our shorelines, our oceans, our fishing, our coral reefs."

"It's time for us to speak up, to ramp up the street heat, to raise our voices against a society dominated by unregulated corporations," Jackson commented.  "Think of it--all the disasters of the conservative deregulatory era, combined with the growth in inequality and the economic slowdown, all of this can be traced back to too much corporate power, too little serious oversight, too much deregulation, and too many campaign finance donations from corporate lobbyists.  On top of that, 5 members of our Supreme Court seem to think that the biggest problem our democracy faces is that corporations have too little power, so in the Citizens United case the Roberts Court offered them even more power on a silver platter.  Just what we need--more corporate money in politics, more access to Congress for corporate lobbyists, and even less oversight and regulation, less environmental and consumer protection."

"It's time for citizens and consumers to fight back.  It's time for BP--Bigger Protests.  Join us Monday afternoon, and let's start moving Beyond Petroleum--not just as a slogan, but as a society increasingly based on renewable energy," Jackson concluded.

The Rainbow PUSH Coalition is a progressive organization protecting, defending and expanding civil rights to improve economic and educational opportunity.  The organization is headquartered at 930 E. 50th St. in Chicago. For more information about the Rainbow PUSH Coalition, please visit www.rainbowpush.org or call (773) 373-3366