It's said Martin Luther King Jr was a bit leery of the man and hesitated some before finally bringing him into the fold. Jesse was a bit of a showboat, a bit of an attention hog. And so he was. I mean, he was everywhere, and in the thick of everything for a while, one of the most public of public figures of his time. And like anybody, no matter how smart or how serious or how well-meaning, who spends too much time in the public eye, he could seem buffoonish at times. For all of that, I'm glad he was around for all these years. As the country turned to the right...and more to the right,,,and more to the right still, Jackson reminded us that there was still such a thing as a Left. And not just the African American Left either. By the end of the 1988 Democratic primaries, Jackson had won 11 primaries or caucuses and had received 6.9 million votes. At least some of those 6.9 million voters must have been white! Michael Dukakis eventually prevailed, but that eventuality took a lot longer than any pundit expected. It would be another 20 years before a black man running for president made that strong of a showing again (in fact, that later black man did even better.) Jackson never ran for president again, and seemed satisfied in role as a gadfly, a political provocateur. Well, I'll take Jackson's brand of political provoking over God-knows-what we got now.
And wouldn't you know it? Jackson was a bit of a poet! I leave you with some of his more memorable rhymes
Hope for the brains instead of dope in the veins.
It doesn't matter if you're black or white, only if you're wrong or right.
If my mind can conceive it, my heart can believe it, I know I can achieve it.
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| 1941-2026 |
I found him hard to like, but easy to respect. He was certainly influential.
ReplyDeleteAndrew, I can't say for sure, but I think Jackson would have settled for the respect.
DeleteHis showmanship didn’t always work and was sometimes embarrassing, but what he accomplished was incredible.
ReplyDeleteMitchell, until I read his obit, I'd forgotten things like getting hostages free (the one picture he's in with Reagan) and just how close he came to nabbing the Democratic Party's nomination. Yet I remembered the brains/veins poem!
DeleteHe did pave the way for Obama. He could always be counted on as a voice for the dispossessed.
ReplyDeleteDebra, he was often the lone voice of the dispossessed, at least in the United States.
DeleteRIP Jesse.
ReplyDeleteI saw Robert Duvall also passed away too, he was really keen on Scottish Football (Soccer) for some reason! Can't say I was ever into it!
Soccer has never really caught on in the United States, Ananka. Well, it's a fairly common high school sport, but while there have been professional teams over the years, it doesn't have nearly the following of major league baseball, pro football, or pro basketball.
DeleteYes he was
ReplyDeleteGood going, Ruby! I was wondering if anybody was going to "get" the title of this post.
DeleteHe was flamboyant and often controversial, but he left his mark, mostly for the good.
ReplyDeleteThat's pretty much how I feel about Jackson, David.
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