Jesse Jackson (1942-2026)
Honestly tried to find an appropriately hagiographic portrait of Mr. Jackson on the occasion of his death, but I came up pretty empty. Mostly photos of him with other famous people, usually Democrats and Civil Rights bigwigs. I really did make an effort to turn an old photo of him into something more. His was a career full of activity and effort but little glamor. He ran for President twice in two of the weakest candidate pools the Dems Hadhad before the current slagpile. In 1984 he lost the nomination to Mondale, who went on to lose 49 of 50 states. In 1988 he polled worse than Al Gore and Michael Dukakis, who also lost bigly in the general.
What little attention I paid him then and subsequently is probably due to his participation in the phenomenon of Reagan Derangement Syndrome, that new streak of personal hatred which entered National Democrat politicking after Watergate. Then he gradually dropped away into the background.
Honestly, I probably would left his passing alone but for three things. He died in Black History Month, which would seem to command notice. He died the day after Presidents Day, which seemed almost an accidental echo of the Babylon Bee’s “Almost President” Day satirical piece. And Donald Trump did the old-fashioned thing this time, taking the opportunity to say some gracious words about a famous a civil Rights Leader.
FTA: <<President Trump Issues a Surprising Statement Regarding Reverend Jesse Jackson’s Death…
Jackson was not exactly popular with conservatives in America, given his status as not only a liberal Democrat but also his involvement in numerous racial and ethnic controversies over the years.
His most infamous incident came in January of 1984, when he called Jews “Hymies” and described New York City as “Hymietown.”
Jackson also blasted Trump on various occasions, including claiming that Trump’s political actions had “seeded these clouds” of division and fear.
But Trump had a different take on Jackson. The president took the high road, calling Jackson “a good man” whom he knew well.
He explained that he helped Jackson on many fronts, including providing office space for his Rainbow Coalition, supporting criminal justice reform, advocating for opportunity zones, and funding HBCUs.
The President closed by saying that Jackson would be missed while noting Jackson’s distaste for former President Barack Obama.>>
So. I guessed I should write something. I’ve been writing about political topics on the Internet and in print for a quarter century now. There had to be an old post or memorable issue I commented on during all those years. Some of my own sources are very difficult to search with keywords and such, but my own aging memory wasn’t helping much either.
What I found, I’m sorry to say, were three brief items that were not what you’d call complimentary. In the Year 2000 I published an Internet work called Shuteye Nation, which had a lengthy Who’s Who section of fictionalized newsmakers and celebrities. My entry for Jesse Jaxon:
Sadder than that, the Who’s Who listing was the newest mention I was able to locate in my own work. Before that was a precursor graphically based work called Shuteye Town 1999. It was a fictional place with a bookstore that had a bestseller one could find by looking hard.
Not much, eh? But I was pretty sure I’d also written at least a sample scrap of the actual text, which done for quite a few books on the store’s shelves. Only I couldn’t find it. I’ve had to piece a lot of them together over years ST99’s being ported from one Internet roost to another. I had no recollection of having unburied an excerpt of “My Life Strife.” (I’m trying to win points for effort here, since I actually took the time to resurrect my wife’s comatose Windows device and do a search for anything of that title.
Which was successful. Sort of.
I know, I know. What’s with all the foreign words in the last half? It’s Latin in this case, from the beginning of the Aeneid, but more generally it’s what’s called Greeked text. When text is used as a placeholder Greeked words show font and size, etc, without having any more content to add. In this bookstore, all my text samples (some of them quite a bit longer than this) ended with the same Latino verbiage, occasionally edited to include a handful of relevant English words. Like here.
Yes, I know. Disrespectful on the whole. But I assure you that there were an awful lot of very famous writers, politicians, and other 15-minute celebrities who did not receive any Greeked text on the shelves of Moon Books.
Lame. I know. But in my own defense, let me close with my favorite movie line ever uttered by
Tom Hanks, after he has spent 24 futile hours trying to seduce a do-gooder chick on a Peace Corps plane to Indochina. When she turns down his proposition during debarkation with a “Why would I bother” snort at Tom, he says, “You’ve got to admit I put in the hours.”
Exactly. My concluding words to you all here… “You’ve got to admit I put in the hours.”
Comments