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'We Should Be Building Bridges, Not Walls:' Jesse Jackson Takes Aim At Trump

KOREATOWN (CBSLA.com) — He moves slower now, but at 75 Jesse Jackson is still very sharp — and he's taking aim at the policies of President Trump.

He spoke at the Islamic Center of Southern California today. He believes there was some good that came from the violent protest in Charlottesville, where Heather Heyer was killed.

"We should be building bridges, not walls," Jackson said. "We're here today because Heather died. Her life has brought us together."

Jackson was able to sum up his thoughts on the white nationalists' stance and President Trump's election in one sentence: "The monuments and the flags and the electoral college must go."

Charlottesville underscored a racial divide in our country that concerns Jackson.

"It's being led by the president," he said.

CBS2/KCAL9's Greg Mills asked him about President Trump and Jackson made it clear he doesn't understand the path the president is going down.

"To find it difficult to reject outright nazis and neo-nazis and Ku Klux Klan and white supremacists and Putin is strange politics," he said.

He mentioned key November elections in Virginia and New Jersey that he believes, in his words, will help win America back in 2018.

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