Reagan’s Praise for King Hypocritical, Jackson Says

The Rev. Jesse Jackson assailed President Reagan on Thursday for taking part in the celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday while at the same time refusing to meet with civil rights leaders.

“We have not had a President more insensitive racially and morally in at least a half century; we have not had the doors of the White House closed this tightly since Hoover,” Jackson said in a luncheon meeting with editors and reporters at the Los Angeles Times.

“We (black leaders) cannot discuss with Reagan South Africa or job training, we cannot discuss anything and (Reagan’s aides) say, ‘If we have a press conference blacks will criticize him.’ Well . . . white Democrats meet with Reagan and predictably have a different point of view. But the Congressional Black Caucus, the civil rights leadership, the Conference of Black Mayors--no. That must be challenged.”

Reagan originally opposed making King’s birthday a national holiday, saying he preferred a private day of remembrance for King. But on Wednesday the President praised the slain civil rights leader in a speech to pupils at Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary School in Washington.

Criticizes Reagan Record

In his remarks Thursday, Jackson said, “Reagan can go to a school with little black children, . . . but he did not support any of the positions Dr. King stood for. He did not support the Montgomery bus boycott, sit-ins . . . freedom rides, the right to vote, open housing . . . and he is trying to unravel everything he (King) achieved. And he gets a free ride of uncritical press observations. . . .”

Jackson said that for Reagan to participate in the King birthday events was “like me preaching at Reagan’s funeral. It’s hypocritical.”

Jackson also ridiculed a recent New York Times Poll that found 56% of blacks approving of how Reagan is handling his job.

‘Poll by Polecat’

“That’s a poll by the polecat,” Jackson said. “Any rational person should know that that poll does not make sense.”

Jackson, who finished third in the 1984 Democratic presidential race, also complained that the news media are not taking him seriously as a possible candidate in 1988. He said that when Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) announced last December that he was not a candidate for President in 1988, the press indicated that Gary Hart was the only remaining candidate with national campaign experience.