Jesse Jackson, Civil Rights Leaders Speak Of Obama With Awe

The Daily Beast:

"I've been able to see our nation get better," the Rev. Jesse Jackson muses, in joyful anticipation of Barack Obama's impending presidential victory. Jackson is reflecting on what he called "sixty years of battles to democratize democracy." Tuesday's results, he tells me, will mark a great victory, moving toward "a triumph over the deepest sin in the American soul." Decades of protest and reform can now give way to a new phase of what he called "bridge building," with Obama standing squarely at the moral center of the American dream. ...

The hard feelings have apparently disappeared, at least for the moment, among the veterans. After talking with a small but politically diverse group of older black activists, one is struck instead by their descriptions of the awe they feel at what is about to happen--an event some of them barely imagined they would live long enough to see. Although they still talk about anxieties and misgivings, these get dwarfed by the grandeur of the moment.

Read the whole story: The Daily Beast

Comments

[OutsiderSA]

Having gone through a similar process here in South Africa, I can assure you change takes time and is slow.

We whites also feared a backlash for what a "few" had done to the black majority here but it took a man like Nelson Mandela to unify the nation and alleviate fears - we are still not fully integrated even after 14 years but we are moving in the right direction.

You now have such a man and there is NOT going to be a hey presto moment and wallah it is all solved. Because Obama is not white, scrutiny of his presidency will be held to a higher standard than anyone before. Racist yes but a good thing too.

Once the bar has been raised and he passes (hopefully) the test, after a second term, no one like Bush or McCain or barbie doll will ever be able to run for that office again unless they meet the new standard.

You are at the dawning of something new but I would urge you folk to keep up the enthusiasm because getting him elected to his second term is going to be twice as hard.

The wingnuts will become marginalized just as they were here but it takes time. Many of you talk of return to the Clinton era but I think we are looking for better than Clinton - the sooner that is realised the better.

[OutsiderSA]

Another thing, the "radical" approach of the past black liberation movement if I can call it that, has passed.

I do believe BO has already embraced a more unifying approach as we have all witnessed throughout the campaign. Just do not place him on a pedestal as a trophy black president. The way forward will be codependent on your individual inputs too.

The old torch bearers should realize the torch has been passed to the next generation.

For me this is a dejavu moment, I have already lived through it.

Best of luck

[LouisPutzel]

In SA, there was also something called the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Without some process that reveals the truth and causes people to make amends for abuses, I don't know how far we will go.

[OutsiderSA]

That too is needed but you are not in a regime change so I dunno how that would play out. Possibly impeachment hearings but the idea of reconciliation is just that - reconciliation and a way to get to a point of forgiveness. Americans seem to lack that trait but there is hope.

[luvienne]

Since when? Stay out of it. Let the process follow through. This isn't just about Jacksons need for media coverage. This is about our country pullling together and getting back our strength. Obama/Biden 08

[DEMTRUPATRIOTS]

....if only jesse could have spoken ENGLISH that people could understand...if only he could have spoken ENGLISH without having to rhyme everything(like jonnie cochran)like a 2 year old maybe he would have been taken more seriously when he ran...... jesse your time has passed, your ideas are old and stale.....you've had an affair. just stand in the crowd quietly.....and marvel at THE NEXT PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: BARACK OBAMA!!!!!­!!!!!!!!!!­!!! YEA!!!!!!!­!!!!!!!!!!­!!

[histryteacher]

It's men like Jesse Jackson that made today possible.
Don't you forget it either.

[psbintl]

Jess Jackson can kiss my a. s. s !!

He is a hypocrite and has been riding the coattails of MLK long enough! I never liked him.Now he is going to try and grab onto Obama's coattails!

After the horrible things he said about Obama he should crawl under a rock!

[LouisPutzel]

Cont'd (with apologies)

This is no time to diss civil rights leaders and older African American heroes. They've paid their dues, and now it's time to act on their demands.

We are lucky to get Obama for president, but he's going to have his work cut out for him. Will congress actually start working for the good of the country for a change? Will there be any money to implement Obama's programs and are they even close to adequate anyway? How is he going to get us out of the suicidal predicament we are in in Iraq and Afghanistan? Obama has to win the election. Good luck to him in earning true praise from Jesse Jackson thereafter.

p.s. Nommo, another thing at the core of this country is self-interest. The failed neo-liberal vision was to line that up with the common good and, bingo, all problems solved. I still have hope, but not for that.

[LouisPutzel]

Jesse Jackson is a hero. Are these negative posts seriously because of what Fox News did to him? Broadcasting his nutsy comment while he was off-mic?

After tomorrow's victory party, it's back to business as usual. The US isn't there yet, not even close, as Nommo kindly reminded me the other day. Not that I should have needed it, not that I didn't know it already: There's so much misery and suffering in this country (and around the world) it should be unbearable to all of us. At night, in Harlem for example, you can hear actual anguish and desperation in the street. (In Africa, of course, millions of people are still being shot daily and dying in concentration camps conditions.) And yet, how patient and careful and polite people (here) have been trying to be since the scare was put into them, first by Guiliani, then by Al Qaeda and George Bush. Such that people say "it's so much better than it used to be." Yeah, if you close your eyes so you can't see the pain in the survivors of gentrification and plug your ears so you can't hear the crying in the streets at night.

[duze]

Jesse is done. Any kind of visibility he once had has been listed under has-been. Anything he says at this point is only a cheap attempt at clearing his name and image. In so many ways, he could have been an asset to Obama., and yet he chose to malign him at a time when Obama visibly should have had his utmost respect and support. But as usual jealously and bitterness reared it's ugly head. It was amazing how so many of the so-called black activists did not come out for Obama. Leaders who supposedly fought for civil rights all their lives, never stepped forward to support the person who is the shining example of what civil rights and american dreams could become in this country. Where were all the big mouths, and why did he have to carry this on his own. He makes all of them look small, weak and useless. Obama did soimething that combined they never achieved to make Dr. Kings dreams a reality. Tonight as he faces the most difficult task anyone has to endure (the loss of his grandmother) I hope he knows that those of us who supported him in the beginning are with him now.

[TKFraz]

Shut up Jesse. You are not respected.

[TR12]

yup, nor relevant

looks someone can fiiiiiinally feel the winds of change blowing in his face and is trying to hop on board

[uclafan]

Please, lets move forward....no more opportunism

[southbay]

As I read the whole story, I read "... it is obvious to anyone who has paid attention that his campaign has turned that sense of racial guilt and symbolic redemption to its enormous benefit."

The statement came within a smidgeon of being insulting. I say that, being one of the oldest of baby boomers, raised out in the lily white boondocks. The people who are lifting Obama into the White House are, for the most part, people who have never felt a tinge of guilt about racism. We came of age during the marches ... we were the white element of those marches. We were the hippies who couldn't tell black from white.

A black man becoming President today should not be considered very far beyond the natural course of events. History has a lot more to do with it than guilt. It is certainly to this black man's credit that he is the one to turn this page in history. Barack Obama has the promise of that rare individual who can motivate others to do the things that must be done, but ... if it wasn't him this year, it would have been another colored man or woman four years from now.

Let's not search around in the straw for something that demeans this whole effort. I worked as hard on this election as I've worked on my own and I did it for a man I believe will be a historically great President, not because I felt

[johnnygoodwud]

there must have been a t.v. camera around somewhere.

[jeanrenoir]

I'm a 65-yr-old white man who grew up in Atlanta during the Age of King. Obama is the personification of King's dream of a black man's being judged by America for the content of his character. It will never again be possible for Jesse Jackson, or any other black person, to claim that blacks are held back in America by "institutional racism." Sure there is a small minority of racist whites who don't like blacks--or Jews, for that matter. But just as anti-semitism can't hold Jews back from success in America, neither can anti-black feelings held by some white morons. Any black person in America who studies hard, gets excellent grades, doesn't have a child at 13, stays completely away from drugs, and gets a good education at a good American college, can write his or her own ticket for success in this country now. In fact, there's no reason for him or her not to be a major, a governor, a senator, a Secretary of State, a Secretary of Defense, Head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, or President of the United States. Bill Cosby is entirely correct: it's up to blacks themselves to study hard and work hard, and then go after any dream open to any other American, just as Obama has so triumphantly done. Blacks need to forget racism, just as Jews have ignored anti-semitism, in order to "just do it," just like Obama.

[sytgrl]

I'm sure you mean well, but your comments reflect a sentiment that does not fully understand the full scope of racism. Very few blacks (or other minorities) are held down simply by anti-black feelings. Escaping racism is not just about working hard. In fact, your assumption that blacks in bad positions are just not working hard should tell you just how deeply racism runs. And though I abhor anti-semitism, one can not always tell that a person is Jewish by looking at them; the circumstances are somewhat different.

One only need to look at many of the stories on this site to see that racism is not dead; it has seeped into our legal, social, and economic systems. As a 34 year old black woman who went to a great college, got excellent grades, and did not have a child at thirteen, I can tell you that there are systems that will exist for many years to throw barriers in the way.

And one more thought...rather than blacks forgetting about racism, how about us as a country actually having a real conversation about it? I am delighted that you have started that hard but worthwhile process with your comments.

[HonorJusticeTruth]

I know that Jesse Jackson is hoping that the ever forgiving Barack Obama will forget that little reference to him using the N word and will soon be inviting him to the new house for supper.

If it wasn't for the fact that some things Jesse still does do matter in helping people I'd just say he's yesterday's news.

[NoSillyName]

Jackson et al finally coming around. How could anyone NOT be amazed by Obama's organization and discipline? So happy the question "Is he black enough?" has faded away. He's just about perfect regardless, or because of, just who he is. The best of both worlds.