The Rev. Jesse Jackson hurt some feelings when he scolded prisoners at the Birmingham Jail, including a woman wearing a T-shirt with a picture of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.
"If he's your hero, you wouldn't be in here," Jackson told her.The woman bowed her head and cried.
Jackson, who came to Alabama for the 30th anniversary of the "Bloody Sunday" voting rights march, noted that King was in the same lockup in 1965. It was there that King wrote "Letter from the Birmingham Jail," which galvanized religious leaders to join the civil rights movement.
"One of the great pieces of literature for the world came from a Birmingham jail," Jackson said during the tour Saturday night. "Dr. King didn't go to jail to have you betray the dream."
He scolded the prisoners for "taking up the money we need for day care and Head Start. You are costing everybody's freedom."
Jackson, accompanied by other ministers, told stories from the Bible and persuaded all but one of a group of 50 prisoners to get on their knees and pray.
"You've got dignity. You're God's child. You can rise above this if you change your mind," Jackson said. "I appeal to you. Your mothers appealed to you. Dr. King died for you."