"We are working diligently to ensure that the case is thoroughly reviewed
by local, state and federal authorities and that all leads are pursued,"
said Jackson.
Chicago, Il -- Reverend Jesse Jackson, Founder and President of the
Rainbow/PUSH Coalition, will continue to make efforts to shine the national
spotlight into the dark corners of Mississippi and called on people of
conscience to step forward to assist authorities investigating the death
of black teenager Raynard Johnson.
Reverend Jesse Jackson's Rainbow/PUSH Coalition is offering a 10,000-dollar
reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person
or persons responsible for the hanging death of Johnson, a high school
honors student in Kokomo, Mississippi. All tips can be called into the
Raynard Johnson Tip Hotline (601) 583-4943 ext. 113.
Raynard Johnson was hanged to death in front of his family's home last
month. The death was originally called a suicide, despite suspicious circumstances.
Authorities have recently opened a criminal investigation, lending credence
to beliefs that the boy was lunched. The case has drawn national and international
attention.
Johnson had attracted significant hostility stemming from his social
interactions with white female friends, and Kokomo is considered by many
to have a climate of racial intolerance. Graffiti reading "Kill All Niggers"
was written on a bridge near the Johnson home, where it remained for weeks.
Last weekend, Reverend Jesse Jackson, along with Rainbow/PUSH Coalition
members and local activists, held a two-day march and a series of rallies
in the rural Mississippi area. "Our goal was to stir community interest
in this case, and we had over 2000 marchers each day of the event. Among
the marchers was Mamie Mobley, the mother of Emmett Till," said Jackson.
Emmett Till was the black teenager lynched in Mississippi in 1955, in
a case that galvanized civil rights workers. Reverend Jackson has compared
the circumstances of Raynard Johnson's death last month to those of Emmett
Till 45 years ago.