Jesse Jackson arrives at Capital~Madison

[Pharaoh]

http://tumblr.dysolution.com/post/3764144841/jesse-jackson-is-speaking-on-the-peoples-mic-at

[xchrom]

1. recommend

it's where smart leaders want to be.

[Pacifist Patriot]

2. I met Jesse Jackson in the spring of 1987.

I don't care what his detractors say. He's really a neat guy. Glad to see him there.

[still_one]

4. The reason he has detractors is because he lied when Martin Luther King was assassinated. He

He indicated that he was the last person to be with Dr. King when he died. In fact it was Ralph Abernathy. King died in Abernathy's arms.

Jessie Jackson was more interested in his personal gain than the civil rights movement

It does not mean that Jackson has done everything bad, but it does indicate a significant character flaw

[H2O Man]

5. Context is important.

Jesse was a young man. He was an important member of the leadership within King's larger group (which was more than the SCLC).

King was under a huge amount of pressure. There were divisions growing within his group's ranks on what direction the Civil Rights Movement needed to go. The Black Power movement was gaining strength. King was focused on the proposed Poor People's Campaign. He had been frustrated in the first attempt in Memphis, and was returning despite the opposition of all of his top advisers.

Within the last days of Martin's life, he and Jesse had a disagreement that led to King's yelling at Jesse. King treated Jesse more harshly than he ever had, and in front of the group.

Within that group, Jesse was younger than the others. There were, as in any and all such groups, tensions: who was King's #1 assistant?; who was the most capable organizer?; who had the best ideas for the direction of the movement?

Obviously, Ralph was Martin's closest friend and top assistant. Andrew Young was the most capable organizer in the established movement order. But this young guy from Chicago was definitely the most inspired, after Martin.

While on the balcony, moments before being shot, King went out of his way to make amends with Jesse. He did so in front of the group. Then, his life ended.

It is true that Jesse misrepresented the actual order of events between King's being shot and his body being moved to the hospital. It might be a "character flaw." It might have been a combination of shock and his trying to make sense of what happened. Or all of those things.

It's worth noting that Jesse, like Martin, and like Gandhi, has character flaws. So don't I. And you. And every single person ever born. That's part of being human. At this time in our society, we might benefit from leaving it to the republicans to point fingers at Jesse, and bring up events from 1968, much as they are calling the crowds of protesters "left-overs from the sixties." That is one of their character flaws that we need not ape. Let's concentrate more on the values that Jesse is advocating; or, if looking at him as an individual, concentrate on the good he does.

I suspect that the good he has done, and the values he advocates, are more in line with what progressive and liberal DUers care about, than most national figures.

[still_one]

6. MLK may have had flaws, but civil rights were always number one, he NEVER put his ambitions before

that.

I was just responding why Jessie has some detractors, and it is because of his personal ambitions. I also agree with your statements

[H2O Man]

7. To be accurate,

Martin's major flaw actually did put his moral leadership at risk. His "ambition" was not for money, position, or power. But it was a flaw, and his behaviors absolutely could have damaged the Civil Rights movement.

I say that not as an insult to him as a leader. Rather, it is essential to recognize that no leader is perfect .... not Martin, not Jesse, not any human being. In a movement, much like in a family, it is best to recognize that we are all part of humanity, and each one of us has flaws. It's possible to point fingers and express outrage at Jesse's reactions to seeing his hero murdered in a brutal fashion, before his very eyes. None of the inner circle held that against him for very long. It seems odd to me that any liberal or progressive would focus on something that happened in 1968, to try to discredit Jesse (or "explain" why "others" do) 43 years later.

[still_one]

8. Yes they could of, and the racist Hoover wanted to do everything to make that happen, but Ramsey

Clark put a muzzle on him

This is a moot issue, and as I said I was just expressing the reason why some may not care for Jackson

There is no question that he has done good, if nothing else, calling attention to issues that need to be noticed

[patrice]

3. Kick! for a leader in Economic Justice with real roots.

[bobbolink]

9. He is the only one left who ever speaks about poor people.

This is a side track for him, and .... it makes me sad.

He is the only one I have who speaks for me.