Rev. Jesse Jackson Kept Hope Alive

Let us praise him for "a job well done"

“Ye shall know them by their fruits.”

Actions often do speak louder than words.

Rev. Jesse Jackson, who passed away today at 84, was a man of action and words.

First, let us begin with his words.

Renowned for his oratory, Jackson spoke in a cadence that may have owed something to Rev. Martin Luther King, his mentor, but Rev. Jackson brought his own style to his speeches.

He famously told us to “keep hope alive.”

If memory serves, when he was first running for president in the 1980s, he also said, “I want my campaign to be better, not bitter.”

Yes, he spoke with a distinctive sense of rhythm and rhyme, and his words were powerful, perhaps none more so than when he told us in 1984 that he was not a “perfect servant.” He was a “public servant.”

Like all of us, Jesse Jackson was complicated, but unlike some people, he was willing to admit his mistakes and to ask for patience from the rest of us when he did err.

We all err at times.

But not everyone has the character to admit that.

We are living at a time when our disgraced chief executive recently posted a video depicting President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama as apes.

The solipsist-in-chief has refused to apologize or to admit that he made a mistake in his racist video.

And our twice-impeached chief executive insulted Bad Bunny, a Grammy Award-winning musician, who hails from Puerto Rico and who in his Super Bowl halftime performance sang of the joy of all elements of the Americas, of the rich diversity that has made our country the greatest in the history of the world.

Jesse Jackson often spoke of this diversity, this rich tapestry, too.

And Rev. Jackson was also, as I noted earlier, a man of action.

He conducted high-stakes negotiations and rescued hostages many times.

If I am remembering correctly, he dubbed himself, “Action Jackson.”

He also registered voters in the South.

He reached out to everyone in this country and elsewhere when he spoke of a rainbow coalition, and he ran a civil rights organization that was in fact named Rainbow/PUSH.

As Rev. Jackson knew so well, God made His covenant with us long ago through a rainbow in the sky.

The solipsist-in-chief may think of himself as a lion king, but he is not even the cowardly lion, though he is a coward, a pathetic man, who cannot admit when he is wrong.

In due course, the curtain will rise or come crashing down on the fraud, who runs our country, and expose him and his lackeys as wizards of Oz, emperors with no clothes.

By contrast, Rev. Jackson was a man of authenticity, who lived a full life, one that benefited so many others over the past 60 years, even as he too grew spiritually with his insight.

Rev. Jackson was, of course, a confidant of Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., and we have all seen the photo of the two men on the balcony at the Memphis motel where Dr. King was later killed.

Like Dr. King, Rev. Jackson was daring and courageous; he was also complicated, like all of us, a point I made before, and he was not immune to moments of pique or jealousy.

Yes, like all of us, Jesse Jackson was human.

That he admired Jackie Robinson speaks very deeply to me, for Jackie Robinson suffered more than we can fathom in being a civil rights pioneer.

Jackie Robinson, the first African American in the modern era to play Major League Baseball, excelled on and off the playing field, but he had to show restraint.

Branch Rickey, the Dodgers’ executive, who signed Jackie Robinson, essentially told Robinson that he wanted someone strong enough not to fight back.

That is a legacy that Jackie Robinson left all of us, including Rev. Jackson.

It is important to keep your dignity in the midst of attacks.

Jackie Robinson did that.

And so did Jesse Jackson, when he carried on with his presidential campaign in 1984 and asked for patience.

Rev. Jackson did not win the Democratic nomination in 1984 or 1988, but he ran spirited contests; and he, like Martin Luther King and Jackie Robinson and others who are less well known, paved the way for President Barack Obama, Vice President Kamala Harris and the rest of us who have been marginalized in different ways.

Yes, Rev. Jesse Jackson kept hope alive for a rainbow coalition of angels.

He is an angel now in the heavens.

As Bakari Sellers, one of Jackson’s longtime friends, said tonight on CNN, let us praise Rev. Jackson for “a job well done.”