NewsMax.com
Friday, Jan. 19, 2001

Her conception occurred shortly before the black militant was prominently "counseling" President Clinton on his own extramarital sexual liaison with White House intern Monica Lewinsky.

According to the Associated Press:

Jackson's acknowledged affair with his child's mother, Karin Stanford, 39, was when she was head of the Washington office of his advocacy group, the Rainbow-PUSH Coalition.

As an instructor of African-American studies at the University of Georgia, she had authored a book titled "Beyond the Boundaries: Reverend Jesse Jackson and International Affairs."

After Jackson's fatherhood of the illegitimate child was divulged first by a grocery checkout-counter tabloid and then by two New York newspapers, the Baptist minister and one-time aide to Martin Luther King Jr., issued a statement:

"I fully accept responsibility and I am truly sorry for my actions.

"As her mother does, I love this child very much.

"I was born of these circumstances, and I know the importance of growing up in a nurturing, supportive and protected environment, so I am determined to give my daughter and her mother the privacy they both deserve."

Jackson said he has been providing "emotional and financial support" since the child's birth 20 months ago.

An activist who has eagerly sought out publicity, Jackson said he was dropping out of public life temporarily – he did not say for how long – to spend more time with his wife, Jackie, and their five children.

Last August, Jackson lavished praise on them for supporting him in his long civil rights career, at a ceremony in which Clinton awarded him the nation's highest civilian honor, the Medal of Freedom.

At that time, Jackson's out-of-wedlock daughter was 15 months old.

Jackson said his family, aware of his fatherhood of the child, was experiencing "an extremely painful, trying and difficult time.

"I have asked God and each one of them to forgive me, and I thank each of them for their grace and understanding throughout this period of tribulation.

"We have prayed together, and through God's grace we have been reconciling."

Jackson has been a persistent denouncer of Bush's election, saying it had been stolen by disenfranchising black voters.

He pledged to spend Bush's days in office trying to "de-legitimize" what he called an "illegitimate presidency."

He was to have led what he said would be nationwide demonstrations, centering on protests in the nation's capital when Bush is inaugurated Saturday as the 43rd president.

Jackson also has been loud in his condemnation of former Missouri senator John Ashcroft, Bush's nominee for attorney general.

Jackson has not been available for comment since issuing his announcement about his child and temporary abandonment of public activities.

Read more on this subject in related Hot Topics:
Presidential Race 2000
Bush Administration