NORTH CHARLESTON - Incidents such as a drug sweep during which Goose Creek Police with weapons drawn ordered students to the floor tarnish the image the new South is trying to build, the Rev. Jesse Jackson said Tuesday.

"The South deserves better than this. These images and these events keep us in a gutter," said Jackson, a native of Greenville.

Jackson spoke with reporters before a march to protest the Nov. 5 drug sweep at Stratford High School which has drawn national attention and spawned two federal court lawsuits. The march was also to protest the death of a mentally ill black man while in custody of North Charleston Police.

"The real challenge to the South is to fight unfair trade policies," Jackson said. "We need to be fighting together, marching together and rallying together for a fair trade policy -- fighting together for a fair tax policy; fighting together for a comprehensive health care policy."

Surveillance cameras from the high school showed students on the floor while officers with guns drawn and a drug dog checked about 100 students.

Police said the dog sniffed drug residue on 12 book bags but found no illegal drugs, and nobody was arrested.

Two civil suits have been filed in federal court. State and federal officials also are investigating whether any criminal laws were broken by police. Critics of the raid have objected to the use of force and say it appeared targeted at black students, noting it occurred early in the morning at a time when mostly black students were at the school.

Jackson spoke with reporters on the last day of a four-day visit to the South Carolina coast.

"We learn to play ball together on Saturday afternoon and Sunday. In Iraq and Afghanistan, we die together," he said.

"We can live together at home as we die together abroad -- racial reconciliation, voter registration and economic security for all the people of our nation. The South must lead the way with new economic priorities and new economic values," he added.

Nat Smalls, a Stratford student and a plaintiff in a lawsuit filed this week against the school and police, appeared Tuesday on CBS' "The Morning Show."

"I was scared because I thought of Columbine. I thought a student at my school had a gun or something like that. And I thought to run, but I didn't because I thought if I ran I would have got shot," he said.

The march was also to protest last month's fatal shooting in North Charleston. Police said they fired to subdue a man, who stabbed an officer. The officer was wearing a protective vest and was uninjured.