Clarence Page: Jesse Jackson's N-Word 'Gotcha'

[babylonsister]

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2008/07/jesse_jacksons_nword_gotcha.html

Jesse Jackson's N-Word 'Gotcha'
By Clarence Page


When a microphone at Fox News Network caught the Rev. Jesse Jackson's cutting remarks about Barack Obama, it turns out that "nuts" was not the Reverend's only troubling N-word.

Besides whispering to another man on the set that he would like to de-sex the Democratic presidential candidate, Jackson also accused Obama of "talking down to black people ... telling niggers how to behave."

Jackson has since issued two statements of apology for his self-described "trash talking." He also might issue this word of advice: If you want to whisper something that could be damaging if traced back to you, don't whisper it over a microphone that happens to be recording everything.

snip//

I was not the only observer who mocked the NAACP for their ceremony to "bury the N-word" at their Detroit convention last year. But maybe the anti-N-word backlash is having an impact. As African Americans have learned for generations, social change comes after thousands of ordinary citizens change their attitudes and behavior.

Which brings us back to what upset Rev. Jackson in the first place. His claim that Obama was "talking down to black people" and telling us N-words "how to behave" rings hollow. Obama has not told black people to do anything that Jackson has not also told us to do. Besides, the roaring enthusiasm of Obama's reception at the NAACP convention last week indicates the civil rights community does not feel that Obama has talked down to them very much.

So, is Jackson over the hill? His glory has faded since he scored an impressive 7 million votes in his second presidential run 20 years ago. But black folks are quite comfortable with paying proper respect to more than one leader at a time.

It is we in the mainstream media who keep insisting on acknowledging only one black leader at a time. We need to widen our lens.

[crikkett]

1. It struck me too that Jackson could be a tad jealous.

He's not taking kindly to being sidelined is he?

[izquierdista]

2. Poor Jesse

Sandwiched in time between MLK and Barack, standing on his tip-toes just quite not reaching their level of popularity.

[Cha]

3. Clarence Page thinks along the

lines that some of us on DU are. Jesse Jackson Jr doesn't seem to think much of his father's antics.