Contact: Ermias Alemayehu, BOND Action, Inc., 213-804-1872, info@bondaction.org

LOS ANGELES, October 14 /Christian Newswire/ -- Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson, Founder and President of BOND Action, Inc., is calling on Sen. John McCain to confront charges leveled by prominent Democrats that his campaign is racially divisive during this Wednesday's presidential debate. The latest allegation came from veteran civil rights activist Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.). Lewis escalated the attacks against McCain-Palin this week by comparing the campaign's mood during their rallies to the hate-filled activities of segregationists in the 60's led by the late Democrat George Wallace. The following is Rev. Peterson's statement about this issue: 

 "Rep. John Lewis was a leader of the early civil rights movement and he of all people should know better than to use such racially divisive fear tactics. For Rep. Lewis to suggest that the McCain campaign is remotely close to segregationists in any way is reckless and false. It also shows that if the Democrats can get John Lewis to stoop this low, they are desperate and afraid of the outcome in this election.

"Like Rep. Lewis, I too am a native of Alabama and I am intimately aware of the vicious tactics the segregationists used to rob blacks of their civil rights and stop progress in the South. I take issue with anyone exploiting the sacrifices of those early civil rights pioneers. And I won't sit idle while innocent Americans are being falsely attacked. So where are all the outraged Democrats who'll speak out against this injustice against white Republicans?

"Over the past two weeks a number of Democratic lawmakers have falsely accused the Republican party and the McCain campaign of being 'racists' without a shred of proof. Those lawmakers include: Rep. Alcee Hastings; Rep. Gregory Meeks; Rep. Barney Frank; Rep. Ed Towns, and Rep. John Lewis.

"Sen. McCain would do this nation and his campaign a great service if he could muster up the courage to boldly denounce Rep. Lewis' comments during the debate and challenge Sen. Barack Obama to either agree with or repudiate Lewis."

BOND Action, Inc., is a 501 (c) (4) new cultural action organization, which exists to educate, motivate and rally Americans to greater involvement in the moral, cultural and political issues that threaten our great country. Contributions to BOND Action, Inc. are not tax-deductible. For more information call (877) WE-ACT-77, visit www.bondaction.org or write to us at BOND Action Inc., PO Box 35586, Los Angeles, CA 90035-0586.