The Rev. Jesse Jackson called into the community gathering at the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals courthouse hosted by Marriage Equality USA and made the following remarks in support of marriage equality and Judge Walker's ruling.

African-Americans know too well the sting of legal, state sanctioned, constitutionally driven "second class" citizenship - from centuries of legal slavery and Jim Crow segregation, to classified as 3/5 of a human being in the U.S. Constitution, to facing anti-miscegenation laws that prevented blacks from marrying whites.

We cannot not sit idly by while Prop. 8 seeks to target gays and lesbians for a disfavored legal status, as America's newest "second-class citizens." Our legal scholars have cited fourteen times where the Supreme Court has stated that marriage is a fundamental right of all individuals. That principle must be upheld today - for blacks and whites, for straight and gay, for ALL Americans. No group of people should be denied their fundamental constitutional liberties, like equal protection under the law, simply because of who they are.

So today, we do not stand alone. It's time to go forward by hope and not backward by fear, to stand up with courage, hope and strength and send a shout out for equality. Stiff winds of resistance seek a return to intolerance, bigotry and state sanctioned discrimination - whether against  immigrants in New Mexico or against marriage equality in California. It should only strengthen our resolve to defend equal protection under the law, equality for all Americans, and the forging of a One Big Tent America.  See Rev. Jesse 
Jackson's full statement.