Jesse Jackson Wants Felons Back On U.S. Railroads

A civil rights leader infamous for playing the race card is demadning that dozens of railroad workers, fired because their criminal records posed national security concerns, immediately be rehired.

About 70 convicted felons were fired this week because they failed background checks required by the Department of Homeland Security for all of the nation’s transportation workers. Since the the September 2001 terrorist attacks, hundreds of thousands of transportation employees – at airports, seaports and railroads – have been subject to the checks to protect the country’s vulnerable entry ports.

When the Chicago-area rail workers failed their background checks, the Transportation Security Adminstartion, the Homeland Security agency in charge of protecting the nation’s transportation systems, dismissed them and the outrage among civil rights leaders ensued because most of the workers are black.

Jesse Jackson has led the rally, even traveling to the nation’s capitol to demand that the convicted felons immediately be reinstated. At a rally a few days ago, he told the dismissed workers that they were “fired unjustifiably” because they are not terorists but simply citizens.

Not quite. All of the men who were fired are felons with criminal pasts, including convictions for violent crimes such as aggravated assault and felony driving under the influence.