E.W. Jackson Jr.: African Americans Should Tone Down Sexuality To Prevent Attacks

Bishop E.W. Jackson Jr., the Republican nominee for Virginia Lt. Governor, suggested in a radio interview Tuesday that African Americans’ sexuality is to blame for urban violence.

Asked about President Obama’s remarks on the nation’s divisions in light of the George Zimmerman verdict, Jackson blasted Obama for “racializing” the real problem. Though asked about how as Lt. Governor he would stem violence, he responded by attacking sex.

JACKSON: The first thing I’m doing, I do know, which is to say that I prefer “Americans of African decent.” I think we have got to stop balkanizing ourselves and racializing ourselves and first of all start thinking of ourselves as Americans, see these problems as American problems, not as black problems or white problems, but American problems and come together and work on them. I certainly intend to go into these communities where at risk youth are — I’ve been doing it all my life in ministry — and talk to them about the need for being married before you bear children. Stop treating your bodies as sexual objects. For men, to stay in the home and raise the children that they father. But this is not a short-term, wave your wand solution. We can’t solve this overnight. But we’ve got to begin to rebuild the family because in my view, that’s where the problem really lies.

Listen to the interview:

                           

Jackson has made his opposition to people acknowledging their ethnic and racial identities — which he derides as “the hyphenated American” — a frequent message dating back at least to 2009.

But while conversations about the importance of responsible parenthood are legitimate, Jackson’s suggestion that “Americans of African decent” or any at-risk youth are somehow inviting violence because of their sexuality feeds into a dangerous “blame the victim” perception.

Last month, Jackson suggested that the Great Society programs that helped lift millions of the nation’s poorest and oldest Americans out of extreme poverty, had been worse for Black families than slavery.