(ThyBlackMan.com) Two weeks ago, February seventeenth to be exact, Jesse Jackson died. It was not a surprise as he had been sick for the past couple of years; but you still are surprised when death finally arrives.
When a major figure dies within our community, Blacks are quick to monitor the amount of coverage the person receives from the “white” media. I think this is stupid by Blacks, but I digress!
What is not stupid is to notice the lack of coverage from Black owned media. Most Black media did a quick hit in the immediate aftermath of Jackson’s death. But where is the coverage from TV ONE, The Grio, OWN, Aspire, etc.?
Blacks are quick to ask white folks to do for us what we are not willing to do for ourselves!!!
Go figure?
Jesse Jackson’s death does not deserve massive global media coverage.
Jesse Jackson’s life earned massive global media coverage.
To deserve something is strictly subjective. When my boss says that I “deserve” a day off with pay, that is subjective, an opinion. My co-workers might totally disagree with my boss.
But when my boss says that I deserve a day off with pay because I was number one in sales for the month; that can be objectively verified as fact or not.
Once my sales for the month are objectively confirmed by management, then I no longer deserve a day off; I have earned a day off.
When you study the totality of Jackson’s work during his life, there is absolutely no doubt that he contributed more good than bad to America.
Jackson has definitely earned the massive global media he has received, despite the lack of media coverage from within the Black-owned media space.
He was born in Greenville, South Carolina in nineteen forty-one. He grew up in the segregated South but never allowed that to deter him from his life’s mission of creating equal opportunity for Blacks.
For those who are unfamiliar with Jesse’s bio, I encourage you to go to the internet; but for purposes of this column, I want to focus on my personal relationship with Jackson and his profound impact on America specifically, the world in general and me.
I have known Jesse Jackson since nineteen seventy-nine, when I was a senior at Soldan High School in St. Louis.
During my senior year of high school there was a major teacher’s strike throughout the city. Many students, like me, had their college applications and high school transcripts locked away in our various schools.
Since our teachers were on strike and our counselors were not willing to cross the picket lines there was no way for us to complete the college application process without going to school.
The city of St. Louis and the Board of Education kept the schools open. So, if we were truly serious about continuing our education like we stated to the media and did not show up for school; the media would call us hypocrites.
If we crossed the picket lines, then our teachers would become our enemies.
What a Hobson’s choice for a bunch of teenagers.
Without us crossing the picket lines, we were all in danger of missing the various deadlines to submit our college applications and financial aid forms to the federal government.
I was president of my senior class and had discussed our plight with my fellow students from other schools. We came up with an ingenious idea; especially for a bunch of seventeen and eighteen-year-olds.
So, me and a friend who was also president of her senior class decided to organize the presidents of all the senior classes and student body presidents of the affected schools to write a letter to Jesse Jackson at his Operation Push headquarters in Chicago.
We explained our dilemma in our letter and to our total shock and surprise, Jackson responded.
Remember we were simply anonymous teenagers caught between a rock and a hard place.
After several phone calls, he agreed to come to St. Louis to meet with us in person.
We had a major Hobson’s choice that we could not figure out.
We were gutsy enough to get one of the biggest people in politics to get behind us, but yet we did not want to cross the picket lines because that would anger our teachers and counselors.
Of course, Jesse being a Jackson, he came up with an ingenious solution. We Jackson’s always solve problems, but I digress yet again!
Jesse knew we could not be seen skipping school because of fear of alienating our teachers; the media would say we were not serious about our education. Most of the students had real personal relationships with our teachers and counselors and we did not want our actions to hurt them.
So, Jesse had all the high school students from across the city of St. Louis meet at a central location by way of public transportation. Then we all marched from the meeting spot to our main library in downtown St. Louis.
We sat there during our school hours doing our studies and getting tutoring help for those who needed it.
In so doing, we showed the media that we were indeed serious about our education; and we also honored the picket lines in support of our teachers.
Jesse taught a bunch of teenagers that “some things are urgent (getting back in school) and some things are important (honoring the picket lines).”
Jesse taught me this simple principle and I have used it my entire life, especially when confronted with difficult choices.
When I became a Republican in the eighties and began to work for President George H.W. Bush, many of the old time Civil Rights leaders that I knew stopped speaking to me because they had been bought and paid for by radical white liberal Democrats. They shunned me because in their perverted view, I was a sellout!
Jesse was not part of this group. He always made time for me and would always return my calls.
Jesse was on the front lines of the fight to outlaw Apartheid in South Africa. He proved to be an effective emissary when it came to playing the role of peacekeeper across the globe.
Who could forget how in nineteen eighty-three Jackson secured the release of Lt. Robert Goodman Jr., a Navy aviator who was shot down over the mountains of Lebanon and captured by the Syrian government.
After a direct appeal and visit to Syrian President Hafez al-Assad, Jackson secured Goodman’s release. Jackson went on to secure the release of hostages in Cuba and Iraq in subsequent years.
There are so many other areas to explore about my relationship with Jesse Jackson that will be discussed in my second book being released later this year but suffice it to say that he truly earned all the accolades he is being given in death.
Staff Writer; Raynard Jackson
This talented brother is a Pulitzer Award nominated columnist and founder and chairman of Black Americans for a Better Future (BAFBF), a federally registered 527 Super PAC established to get more Blacks involved in the Republican Party. BAFBF focuses on the Black entrepreneur. For more information about BAFBF, visit www.bafbf.org. You can follow Raynard on Twitter; RealRaynardJ; on Gettr: RaynardJackson.
Can also drop him an email at; RaynardJ@ThyBlackMan.com.
