Jesse Jackson, Sr.

Jesse Jackson, Sr. is a political activist in the United States.

Jackson says, "We need a regime change in this country."

Jesse got his start working around Martin Luther King for civil rights.

He parlayed the favorable environment for civil rights in the 1970s and 1980s to become a national celebrity.

He has been involved in several negotiations with foreign leaders to release Americans imprisoned as hostages. This is one of the links between Ross Perot and Jackson.

Critics of Jesse Jackson, Sr. claim that he has exploited poverty stricken black Americans in order to make money and gain political power.

Some of the allegations which are covered in the book Shakedown: Exposing the Real Jesse Jackson by Kenneth R. Timmerman include:

During the late 1990s , it was revealed that Jackson's sons and Jackson himself would protest against large businesses until the business 'paid' a donation to one of Jackson's tax exempt corporations.

On several occasions, Jackson publicly opposed a major corporate merger until one or both of the merging companies 'paid' a donation to Jackson's tax exempt corporations.