Jackson Calls For Focus on Larger Issues

AMHERST--In a speech before an audience of 2,000 yesterday, The Rev. Jesse Jackson urged University of Massachusetts students to turn their attention to battles for bigger causes than the racial clash that injured 10 people on campus last fall.

"Those are skirmishes in the parking lot. Those are not the Super Bowl fight," the civil rights leader said between bursts of applause.

"If we must fight, let's fight at the site of farm foreclosures and save farms and save ranches and give farmers a chance to rebuild their lives," he said. "If we must fight, find the site of some trade drop from South Africa."

Jackson was the keynote speaker at "Racial Awareness Day," organized in the wake of an Oct. 27 fight between black New York Mets fans and white Boston Red Sox fans following the Red Sox' loss in the final game of the World Series.

He called for a university summit meeting to discuss dwindling numbers of minorities in schools, as well as other changes he said were causing a dangerous isolation in U.S. education.

"We hope soon to convene a body of chancellors and presidents to put forth an affirmative plan to address the issues of blacks, Hispanics and women," he said.

The convention, he said, would "look at the drift away from multicultural education toward isolation."

Jackson, a former contender for the Democratic nomination for president, declined to say if or when he will announce his candidacy for the next race. However he said he has formed a committee to explore his chances in the Iowa primary and has come up with a campaign theme--"Invest in America."

"It's a matter of getting sufficient money and infrastructure support," he said. "This business of running for president is not just a personal decision."

Jackson laid blame for racial unrest at UMass and other schools at the feet of the Reagan administration, saying "the frustration and alienation felt along the lines of race represent a lack of moral leadership coming from the White House."

He also said he feared students were ignorant of world demographics and pointed out that the United States and Soviet Union together represent less than 10 percent of the world's population.

"When Mr. Reagan and Mr. Gorbachev met, it was a minority meeting," he said of the superpower leaders.

Most of the audience raised their hands when Jackson asked how many knew students who were using drugs or contemplating suicide.

"All this says to me is that you are groping in the darkness," he said. "Don't surrender. Darkness is temporary. Hold on. Don't become violent and mean."