This past Wednesday, the University had the honor of hosting a speech from Rev. Jesse Jackson, one of the most historically controversial figures in American history. This being a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, fitting right into a vast free space between my classes, and (most importantly) being free, it was inevitable that I would attend.
This whole event seemed random to me, though: why, of all people, Jackson? What does he have to say to the University?
The founder of many civil rights groups and active in countless others, Jackson has built quite the resume — including everything from being an aide to Martin Luther King Jr. and running for president twice to negotiating the release of 22 Americans being held in Cuba.
The man has been through and created a lot of history, and although it was amazing what he did earlier in his career, recent years seem to have been a desperate pursuit for the spotlight.
Jackson throws the race card around like a Frisbee in the summertime.
He accused Obama of “acting like he’s white” when Obama responded to the Jena Six incident (where six African-American teenagers were convicted for beating a white high school student). In the current health care debate, Jackson stated that “You can’t vote against health care and call yourself a black man.” In 1995, he even said that the Power Rangers’ White Ranger symbolized white supremacy in some of his comments.
Jesse, come on, man.
The first 20 years of his career were filled with revolutionary changes and meaningful coalitions, while the latter is riddled with over-racialized incidents that serve more to discredit the authentic struggles of the contemporary black man than to raise awareness of inequality.
Standing in a line of 900 people, I didn’t know what to expect. Which Rev. Jesse Jackson would I be seeing? The old Jackson, commonly described as someone determined to prove that a black politician would be more than a black leader, or the contemporary, conflict-hungry activist that we know today?
Shortly after I sat down, Jackson smoothly strolled out onto the stage with confidence and swagger. After a lengthy standing ovation from the crowd, Jackson took his place at the podium and sleepily opened his speech. After 30 seconds he finally warmed up and began conveying his message.
I was rather impressed with his strong parallelism and his charismatic presence. Jackson did a great job pushing his ideology on equality, Haiti, health care, peace, anti-violence, student loans, and voting, voting, voting.
I think the word “vote” slipped out of Jackson’s mouth a thousand times.
His beliefs weren’t too complex, and his values weren’t too unique; they were just rhetorical devices, strong adages and his renown carrying his speech along. With youth voting as his recurring theme, he made it appear as though a vote would be enough to create the world he describes. And he offered no other answers.
At one point, he began speaking of violence in America, and without telling us how to handle it, he stated, “we have become much too violent,” and transitioned into the next issue.
There were no substantial solutions anywhere in the speech; how can you give an image of a beautiful world riddled with dreams and aspirations, and then only offer a ballot as a way to achieve it?
We all know that ending social inequity, poverty, injustice and racism is going to take a lot more than a vote.
We all know that to give all Americans the right to health care when they are sick and interest-free loans when they go to college is going to take much more than handing in a ballot.
And we all know that if we are going to make this world a better place, with minimal exploitation and intolerance, it’s going to take way more than a high voter turnout.
It will probably take a revolution.
Though it is great to describe the world we want to see, if you can’t tell us how to achieve it, it’s just a theory.
I wasn’t too enthused with Jackson’s modern, ideological discussions, but I did appreciate his historical talks and his explanation of the history of Haiti: telling us how things changed and answering the question, “Who is Haiti?”
“It was not the earthquake that shook Haiti — it was poverty,” he said.
This is where I think Jackson should focus his energy: on history and contextualization. His time as a relevant public figure is over, but his ability to give us a first-person history of injustice is still very valuable.
I do believe his intentions are good, but the way he parades around, begging for national attention and appearing to profit off of social issues, indicates to me a man who is simply past his time.
Jackson would be better for the black community if he quit his antiquated fight for freedom and handed the torch to another young black leader, serving as an advisor to him.
Jackson could also write books about his life, talk about how the past affects the future, explain comparisons between the Civil Rights Movement to the modern fight for equality, teach at a university, run charities, sell T-shirts — hell, anything but what he has been doing. Because lately, Jackson has been making a mockery of not only black America, but his own legacy as well.
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All flash, no substance
Daily Emerald
February 18, 2010
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