Why Jesse Really Attacked Obama

Rev. Jackson,

Your vulgar tirade caught on tape by Fox News, in which you said you wanted to rip Barack Obama's nuts off and accused him of talking down to black folks with moral lectures at churches, is simply the last straw for me and a growing number of African-Americans.

There are many blacks across the nation (myself included) who are appreciative of the work and contributions you have made in your civil rights career. But at this point, you are hurting Black America and Senator Obama. Your continued verbal attacks (see Jena 6 drama) are unwarranted. It is as if you're jealous that he has eclipsed you and both of your campaigns for the Democratic nomination.

Senator Obama's recent comments about black fathers not abandoning their children and accepting moral responsibility is a lesson you apparently needed to learn when you were younger. If you had, it may not have caused you to cheat on your wife and father a child out of wedlock with a former staffer.

Maybe that's what really bothered you about Senator Obama's Father's Day message urging black fathers to be responsible for their children. You certainly haven't been.

Living in Los Angeles, I have watched your ten year old daughter Ashley Laverne Jackson grow up. Over the years, I have had the pleasure to spend several holidays with your daughter including Christmas, her birthday parties and other milestones in her life. I will never turn my back on Ashley, her mom and their family. It is about providing friendship, support and love while you have been missing in action.

Your daughter has never traveled with you. You have an annual birthday party in Beverly Hills every year where your entire family is welcome, but your youngest child has only attended it once. She has had very little contact with her siblings and has never even met her big brother Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr, who apparently doesn't want anything to do with her. Allegedly (I believe it to be true), he was the one to leak the scandal to the media concerning your affair.

Now don't get me wrong, Senator Obama is not above reproach. He is a politician and is fair game to be fairly criticized by you or anyone else. But to personally attack him is crossing the line. Senator Obama is not talking down to Black people. He wants you and other dead beat dads to spend time with and care for your children properly.

The destruction of the black family and absentee fathers is a major problem in our community.

It's a problem that Dr. King spoke about and fought against. Forty years after King's murder, I can see why King didn't trust you. If you can't and won't sincerely help Senator Obama in this historic run, then at least stop attacking him.

Listen to his message of being a responsible father and start with taking care of your own daughter.

Najee Ali is a founding contributor of the African-American news and opinion site, UrbanThoughtCollective.com. Mr. Ali also serves as Executive Director of Project Islamic H.O.P.E, a national civil rights organization that advocates for oppressed people regardless of race, gender or religion.

Comments

[tbone99]

Ouch! Jesse , consider yourself called out.

Considering that the mother of this child decided to conceive a child with a married man who had his own children, I feel the pity party aspect is a little overdone, Mr Ali. Perhaps she should have considered the " destruction of the black family" before embarking on sexual relations with him.
The mother deserves some responsibility for her daughter's fatherlessness, after all she did'nt seem to care that she could have caused the Jackson children to end up in a broken home.

I do give Jesse credit for staying the course with his family and Mrs Jackson.

[outnow]

Don't become a father if you don't want to support your child. All races need to learn that lesson. In fact, there are too many people on this planet, and, even if you can and do support your children, we still don't need them. Who is going to see these kids through the nightmares of resource shortages and global warming and nuclear war?

My children are all aware of my views about population control and support them wholeheartedly.

So why do people want to overpopulate the planet? It must be some kind of an ego thing but not love.

[clr2]

Jesse attacked Obama because he is one of the fathers Obama's speech was about. Jesse has had at least one child out of wedlock. Who knows if there are more. How is he fathering that child? How can he do anything about the problems of unwed mothers when he is adding to them?

[Jamchinadian]

Sounds like you have a very personal axe to grind against Jackson. Personally, I think it's in poor taste to make such a public personal attack, but I guess you're free so to do. But you should have left his young daughter's name out of it.

[jackie4444]

Agreed.

[JimR]

Are you talking down to the Rev. Jackson? You better watch your nuts!

[INDmind]

Wow! This story with JJ got more play than Obama's support of FISA! Go figure!

[4real]

I think it's good that Jesse Jackson's comments came out because at least Obama is aware now of the back stabbing he is up against. Jesse Jackson's comments were totally uncalled for. Obama needs to keep him at a safe distance and not allow him to "help" him in his campaign.

I would be very cautious of a "friend" or "supporter" who was caught on tape saying they wanted to injure me. That revealed what a phony person he is and that he doesn't have Obama's best interest at heart.

He probably has been saying this about Obama for the longest time. He just got caught this time.

[gregjones]

From Blacks4Barack...

MUST READ: Najee Ali's powerful Open Letter to Rev. Jackson !

Visit: www.Blacks4Barack.org

[Sarahjan]

Now, I wait for Sen. obama lecture to poor white absentee fathers on the moral responsibility! No,forgot, Obama is supposed to earn the votes of poor whites by pandering to them not lecturing to them. This is the old racial discourse of the black family as a problem and the black men as absentee fathers and villains which have resurrected at the moment when a black man is heartbeat away from the presidency of the United States even as another one million black men are incarcerated inside US prisons.

This type of identity political will not unite America but play off one community, ethnicity and race against other groups This is not the message of hope and unity and transcendence promised by Sen. Obama. Continue assault of Jesse Jackson by younger black men is alarming and humiliating to watch and read. I see no forgiveness but a vicious struggle for power and positions. Now, I can see the logical of obama taking Hillary Clinton as his VP; he needs her support to win the White House.

there is a famous Muslim Hadith which says something to the effect that those who forgive one transgression against them by others, God will wash away 70 sins he or she has committed against others. I do see that moral teaching in your quickness to condemn Rev. Jesse Jackson, why is that?.

[qwr]

Close to 70% of black children are born out of wedlock. You think this is just "discourse"? Think about that number, and think about the disadvantage that these children have from the moment they are born. But I agree with you that Jesse Jackson and Sharpton are scapegoated. It has become OK to condemn them for no reason whatsoever. But how JJ has treated his illegitimate child is one legitimate reason to be against him.

[dct1999]

Not every child born out of wedlock is at a great disadvantage.

The socioeconomic, and educational backgrounds of the parents; their commitment to co-parenting, the extended family's involvement; and other important factors cannot be discounted.

Out of wedlock birth does not automically equal fatherless child.

[Zoolie]

In some of his speeches I've heard, Obama does include white fathers..

[vernonbc]

Sarahjane, you obviously haven't been listening to speeches Obama has given to many other crowds that included plenty of white people where he's said exactly what he said in the black church. Of course he's going to refer to black people because that was his audience that day but it's been a common theme of his about taking personal responsibility. So until you educate yourself about Obama's stances, your diatribe is absolutely meaningless.

[liberalrebuttal]

Awesome post !

And please. Don't listen to people who are "outside of OUR community" telling us how we should and should not address issues like this within OUR community. They need to focus on their own communities problems before they start dictating how Blacks should talk to other Blacks about issues facing the Black Community.

So, don't feel bad if you have people from outside of our community butting in and talking down to you. You are right about Jessie Jackson and it's high time we call him out. These older types are an embarrassment to is. Jessie Jackson does not represent the Black Community no more than John Mc Cain represents the United States Armed Forces.

[RedDogBear]

Give me a break. "outside of OUR community" So now only blacks can comment about blacks? But wait Obama isn't really black right he is half white. So I guess he couldn't comment here either. And I hope you never made any comments about Hillary Clinton since she is a woman and only women can understand women's issues. And I'm an Italian-German-Atheist who is angry that there has NEVER been an Italian-German-Atheist as president hence I'm not going to vote until we get some respect and Obama chooses an Italian-German-Atheist for VP.

Now to be serious for a moment: this country is in major trouble. In my opinion one of the greatest crisis points in our history. Thank God we have a man of integrity like Obama to start pulling us out of the mess made by our frat boy president for the last seven years. I support Obama because I think he is the best person for the job. All this identity politics stuff is crap left over from the 70's that the Neocons use to divide the vast majority of this country who really have very common interests and yet spend so much time fighting amongst ourselves that we have let a moron frat boy steal the presidency twice and sell off this country to his rich corporate buddies. We need to come together and fight our common problems: global warming, poverty, needless war, there are so many.

[RedDogBear]

And getting back to Rev. Jackson. What he said was stupid but it wasn't supposed to be public. I'm sure most of us have said things in private in moments of anger that would sound awful if made public. I know I have. Focusing on Jackson is one more example of how the media in this country creates false issues to distract from the real ones (Reverend Wright, the terrorist fist jab, flag pins, ...). For example this country is ALREADY waging war against Iran and in the process if giving money to the SAME PEOPLE WHO CAUSED 9/11 (see Sy Hersh's recent New Yorker article) even though Iran has NO nuclear weapons program. Global warming is devastating the globe. The no child left behind program is a corporate give away and a sham used to defund and destroy schools in low income neighborhoods and turn them over to for profit companies. You won't find things like this in the MSM except maybe in the back pages of the paper. We need to focus on the real issues and not be distracted. If we do focus on the real issues it will be so obvious that Obama is the only logical choice not just for the black community but for everyone in this country that doesn't make over $1M a year.

[FloridaEvans]

Jackson made those comments off-camera, NOT in private (like say, in the men's room), with video cameras and boom mikes and directors and crew and everything else going on. He was sitting in AN ACTUAL NEWSROOM, being interviewed by a Fox News personality. That's not just public, that's public, broadcasted to every corner of the word.

There is no logical excuse for what he said and where he said it. He's really jealous, and God don't like Ugly.

[PumaAnn]

Wow.....there's some personal dishing.

Got my gossip fill for today, anyway.

[blaqntelligence]

Ouch, Brother!
Between you and Thaii (?) Rev. Jackson has been spanked.
My question is this: Does she or her mother know you've used this information in this manner?
Good verbal beatdown but without their permission, not cool at all..

[culturevue]

I so agree with you. And why put the young girl's complete name out there?

[perk]

I am curious, why do the Rev's Jess and Al dislike Obama so?

Though, this little tirade could be a good strategy to help win the centrist vote and make it clear Obama is not that kind of "Reverend" -black-activist, one that is trying to stir up strife rather than bring all people of this country together, and for monetary gain no less! Reverend indeed.

[MariaHopeful]

I don't think that Al dislikes Obama - at least not now. He has defended Obama on a number of occasions. I really don't know what Rev Jackson is about. Even during the primaries when he claimed he was supporting Obama, his comments often seemed a bit critical. I think jealousy is probably the only way to explain it.

[Robert59]

Hmmm, now I understand why Reverend Jackson's son referred to him as reverend and not dad when he condemned him for his remarks. All is not well in the Jackson household.

As to why I don't think it's because Obama's words are rubbing salt into the wound. Rightly or wrongly, he feels Obama is playing the blame game, but pinning the failings of black Americans on the collapse of the black nuclear family.

Jackson believes systemic racism is why the black family is going the way of the dodo bird.
He remains convinced if racism goes away the family will once again become nuclear and overnight resemble the Huxleys.

Unfortunately, he's wrong.

Prejudice is a fact of life. To some degree every immigrant and even nonimmigrant (American Indians) had to deal with it. The answer by too many in the black community has been to reject what will make it successful. Be it antiintellectualism, not marrying, fathering children out of wedlock, aspiring to be gangbangers and players have only reduced probabilities for success. It's had another affect; most Americans arrived here after the Civil War. It's difficult for them to comprehend the lasting effects of Jim Crow. What they end up seeing is not a group of people suffering from racism, but deadbeats, thugs, etc.

The compassion people felt for blacks in the 60s is gone. They don't understand why the black underclass is getting worse, not better.

[GoreyFantod]

1.
This is a dead giveaway: "The compassion people felt for blacks in the 60s is gone. "

Since you are clearly unaware of your own deep-seated bigotry, I'll spell it out for you.

The grammatically correct sentence would have been, "The compassion White people felt for Black people in the 60s is gone." Or, it could have been, "The compassion Whites felt for Blacks in the 60s is gone." Personally, I prefer, "For some but not all European-Americans, the compassion they felt for African-Americans in the 60s is gone." Any way you slice it, your phrasing implies that "blacks" does not equal "people," in addition to the outlandish generalization about the feelings of all non-"blacks."

[GoreyFantod]

2.
In your second to last paragraph, you list all sorts of symptoms & stereotypes of the "Black" Community, without any consideration of the root causes of these things, let alone the simple recognition that they are not the sole province of any one ethnic group. You could just as easily be describing stereotypes about working class people, or poor Southern "Whites." Ever watch Jerry Springer? Also, what gall you have to mention First Nations people in the way you do. Native Americans didn't merely have to, "deal with," prejudice - European-Americans enslaved as many as they could and attempted genocide against those they could not. Entire thriving nations & cultures were decimated by European bigotry and hegemony.

Overall, your entire comment displays a woeful ignorance of history and of the distinctions between ethnicity & culture. Individual behaviors & cultural practices have root causes. Why is it so difficult to accept that 400+ years of systematic, institutionalized bigotry has had a profound impact on America and all of its citizens?

[offred]

I would suggest a HuffPo editor delete the 10-year-old's name from the article.