This is lovely. Impossible to listen to Jackson speak without appreciating-and enjoying!-his command of rhetoric which, as you say, is a pillar of the much-vaunted "classical" tradition these jerks claim to venerate.
Trump has A Rhetorical Style, sure, but one that makes you feel sick to listen to - I always think of the parts of Macbeth where you can hear him losing his grasp on language, and what that says-or used to say?-about a king's grasp on power.
A good example of Jackson’s influence for me is that Mike Davis, toward the end of Prisoners of the American Dream, said that if social democracy were to come to America, it would be ushered in by a coalition a lot like the one Jackson was assembling.
What a joy to read this understanding of Jackson and the social/political thread he lived and kept alive. I listened to the long debate by the UC Regents in their ending of affirmative action in the mid 1990's. Jackson spoke at that meeting and ticked off the business ties that each Regent had. I cried because that political economy argument, the whimper of the other Wallace (the one with FDR's skid marks on his back), was near death in the democratic party. Bill Clinton and Al Gore ensured that it would be so.
The passage of time has also shown that he correctly assessed Bill Clinton’s moral character, too.
“ "I can maybe work with him but I know now who he is, what he is. There is nothing this man won't do. He is immune to shame. Move past all the nice posturing and get really down in there in him, you find absolutely nothing . . . nothing but an appetite".
Wonderful tribute to Jackson. His convention speech is the first political event I have any memory of. The language he crafted to invoke working people ("They take the early bus. They work the late shift.") have come back to me at various times across all of those decades. It was a tribute that gave them dignity while still staking out a demand that they were not getting their due. I can't think of any Dem since Jackson who has been able to do that.
Regarding new deal optimism I’m reminded of educator Mary McLeod Bethune, the only African American to hold an influential position in FDR’s administration. The daughter of former slaves she had no illusions about America’s imperfections and yet speaking of American democracy she said: “We have fought to preserve one nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Yes, we have fought for America with all her imperfections, not so much for what she is, but for what we know she can be.”
This is excellent, John. Maybe the best tribute I’ve read since the news hit. I was just reaching voting age in the ‘88 cycle. I think I was too young to fully appreciate the gravity of his run or his full skills. He deserves all you’ve put here and more.
Nice piece, and interesting to see your parallel with Buchanan.
I should add I just finished reading Jonathan Mahler's The Gods of New York which focuses, roughly speaking, on NYC politics and society from 1986 to 1990. Both Trump and Jackson feature prominently, so I'm not that surprised by his kind words -- particularly since Jackson has been absent from public life largely speaking in recent years.
Trump dealt with the black leadership quite a lot at the time and was freindly not just with Don King and Mike Tyson, but also figures like Al Sharpton--who at the time really was seen as a radical "race-baiter" by much of white opinion (even moderates).
It makes me think in a way that a lot of Trump's racism is not really or deeply held but wielded as a means to power. Which doesn't make it better--arguably worse in a way. But its worth noting.
As an old who lived through all this but didn’t study it, my belief is that Clinton’s “Sister Souljah moment” was the point where the national Democrats shifted from delivering for its voters and instead took them for granted, even selling them out or just dissing them.
Not going into the rational for that seismic shift—if you know, you know—but suffice to say, it didn’t do good for the nation.
Jackson also understood that white Americans *want* to be persuaded that America's project is sacred, and that this is why Christian abolitionism has always commanded public attention and been argued in homiletic styles. (The suffragists had to develop novel forms of public moral persuasion that appealed to America's sacred foundation without claiming prophetic or pulpit authority for themselves.)
I remember his 1988 convention speech, and how speechless it made me, the power of evocation ("slop buckets"), how his voice changed. A high point for many of us.
Remember “Run Jesse, Run” his campaign slogan in 84 and 88? It was the inspiration for a sign I brought to the old Shea Stadium “Pitch, Jesse, Pitch” in appreciation of Mets reliever Jesse Orosco.
John, Thank you for your beautiful, informative reflection on Jesse Jackson. I'll never forget his "Hymietown" remark. But from what I've learned about Rev. Jackson since his passing, his contribution to civil and human rights, I can forgive. BTW, who am I to "forgive" anyone but myself and even then only on my best days? ... "I am — Somebody," ... And ain't we all!
Man, Jesse Jackson... my mom graduated (as an older adult) from DePaul in Chicago in the early 2000's. Jesse was the keynote speaker at the graduation. I would have followed him into Hell after that speech. He was just... So. Good. I have never heard a better public speaker live, and this was a good few years after his peak of relevance. A complicated man overall, but we are lessened by his departure.
This is lovely. Impossible to listen to Jackson speak without appreciating-and enjoying!-his command of rhetoric which, as you say, is a pillar of the much-vaunted "classical" tradition these jerks claim to venerate.
Trump has A Rhetorical Style, sure, but one that makes you feel sick to listen to - I always think of the parts of Macbeth where you can hear him losing his grasp on language, and what that says-or used to say?-about a king's grasp on power.
A good example of Jackson’s influence for me is that Mike Davis, toward the end of Prisoners of the American Dream, said that if social democracy were to come to America, it would be ushered in by a coalition a lot like the one Jackson was assembling.
What a joy to read this understanding of Jackson and the social/political thread he lived and kept alive. I listened to the long debate by the UC Regents in their ending of affirmative action in the mid 1990's. Jackson spoke at that meeting and ticked off the business ties that each Regent had. I cried because that political economy argument, the whimper of the other Wallace (the one with FDR's skid marks on his back), was near death in the democratic party. Bill Clinton and Al Gore ensured that it would be so.
The passage of time has also shown that he correctly assessed Bill Clinton’s moral character, too.
“ "I can maybe work with him but I know now who he is, what he is. There is nothing this man won't do. He is immune to shame. Move past all the nice posturing and get really down in there in him, you find absolutely nothing . . . nothing but an appetite".
Wonderful tribute to Jackson. His convention speech is the first political event I have any memory of. The language he crafted to invoke working people ("They take the early bus. They work the late shift.") have come back to me at various times across all of those decades. It was a tribute that gave them dignity while still staking out a demand that they were not getting their due. I can't think of any Dem since Jackson who has been able to do that.
Regarding new deal optimism I’m reminded of educator Mary McLeod Bethune, the only African American to hold an influential position in FDR’s administration. The daughter of former slaves she had no illusions about America’s imperfections and yet speaking of American democracy she said: “We have fought to preserve one nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Yes, we have fought for America with all her imperfections, not so much for what she is, but for what we know she can be.”
https://americanradioworks.publicradio.org/features/blackspeech/mmbethune.html
This is excellent, John. Maybe the best tribute I’ve read since the news hit. I was just reaching voting age in the ‘88 cycle. I think I was too young to fully appreciate the gravity of his run or his full skills. He deserves all you’ve put here and more.
Wonderful piece, John
Nice piece, and interesting to see your parallel with Buchanan.
I should add I just finished reading Jonathan Mahler's The Gods of New York which focuses, roughly speaking, on NYC politics and society from 1986 to 1990. Both Trump and Jackson feature prominently, so I'm not that surprised by his kind words -- particularly since Jackson has been absent from public life largely speaking in recent years.
Trump dealt with the black leadership quite a lot at the time and was freindly not just with Don King and Mike Tyson, but also figures like Al Sharpton--who at the time really was seen as a radical "race-baiter" by much of white opinion (even moderates).
It makes me think in a way that a lot of Trump's racism is not really or deeply held but wielded as a means to power. Which doesn't make it better--arguably worse in a way. But its worth noting.
As an old who lived through all this but didn’t study it, my belief is that Clinton’s “Sister Souljah moment” was the point where the national Democrats shifted from delivering for its voters and instead took them for granted, even selling them out or just dissing them.
Not going into the rational for that seismic shift—if you know, you know—but suffice to say, it didn’t do good for the nation.
Jackson also understood that white Americans *want* to be persuaded that America's project is sacred, and that this is why Christian abolitionism has always commanded public attention and been argued in homiletic styles. (The suffragists had to develop novel forms of public moral persuasion that appealed to America's sacred foundation without claiming prophetic or pulpit authority for themselves.)
I remember his 1988 convention speech, and how speechless it made me, the power of evocation ("slop buckets"), how his voice changed. A high point for many of us.
Remember “Run Jesse, Run” his campaign slogan in 84 and 88? It was the inspiration for a sign I brought to the old Shea Stadium “Pitch, Jesse, Pitch” in appreciation of Mets reliever Jesse Orosco.
In 1988 Norman Mailer wrote an article in support of Jackson at the height of the “Hymietown” controversy. Mailer could sometimes go off the deep end, but this column holds up well: https://www.nytimes.com/1988/04/18/opinion/jackson-is-a-friend-of-life-s-victims.html?unlocked_article_code=1.NFA.kbYN.y3QUYg2IFyeX&smid=url-share
Nice tribute. But I don't know. Obama did the rhetoric thing well sometimes.
John, Thank you for your beautiful, informative reflection on Jesse Jackson. I'll never forget his "Hymietown" remark. But from what I've learned about Rev. Jackson since his passing, his contribution to civil and human rights, I can forgive. BTW, who am I to "forgive" anyone but myself and even then only on my best days? ... "I am — Somebody," ... And ain't we all!
Man, Jesse Jackson... my mom graduated (as an older adult) from DePaul in Chicago in the early 2000's. Jesse was the keynote speaker at the graduation. I would have followed him into Hell after that speech. He was just... So. Good. I have never heard a better public speaker live, and this was a good few years after his peak of relevance. A complicated man overall, but we are lessened by his departure.