RIP Jesse Louis Jackson

We May Not Have Always Seen Eye to Eye, But You Were a Good Man

Yes, this Stack is called The Conservative Historian but this will not be a political post. Being a Conservative Christian, I will show Jesse Jackson, an ordained Baptist minister, the same respect I would show to any man of God. If that is a problem for you, then you are welcome to spend the time you would have spent reading my post doing something else. I won’t be offended.

So first thing’s first. I would like to congratulate Reverend Jackson today. I am certain that he has done something that I look forward to. His lifetime of loving and serving the Lord has certainly resulted in Jackson’s being called home to Heaven, where he can rest in the love of the Lord himself. His afflictions have been healed. There is no racism where he is. Rest in peace, Pastor. You deserve it.

We all know that Jesse Jackson was a major part of the Civil Rights Movement at a time when it was dangerous to do so. Jackson was with famed civil rights leader Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. when King was shot. It is a credit to Jackson, as well as the other men who were there, that they carried on the fight after viewing such a visceral reminder of what it could cost them. I respect courage. Those men displayed it. All of them.

There will be much talk, too, of Jackson’s two runs for president, in 1984 and 1988. I was witness to both such attempts although, due to my age, I remember the run in 1988 much better. I saw the man speak on television. I wasn’t part of his or anyone’s campaign. I was a kid. I definitely remember it though. And, while I don’t usually do a whole lot with race here, I will say this much. Those are the first two presidential elections that I was old enough to remember. My historian side knows that there had never really been a serious black contender for president before Jackson. To a guy whose earliest memories of politics are of a black man running for president, it feels like it’s always been that way though. That might be Jackson’s greatest contribution to the history of the US.

But it was far from his only contribution. Jesse Jackson was an amazing negotiator. He managed to get hostages freed when no one else could. I don’t know how he did it. I just know that he did it. Thanks to Jackson, Navy Lieutenant Robert Goodman was returned home to his family after being shot down in Syria in 1984. Hundreds of people, some Americans were freed from captivity in Iraq in 1990. Jackson led an interfaith delegation that freed American captives in Kosovo in 1999. And Jackson negotiated the release of four British hostages in 2000. God obviously gave Jackson a gift, and he used it to the betterment of his fellow man. There can be no higher calling for a man of God. Jackson followed Christ’s commandment to love his neighbor as himself.

It’s worth mentioning that Jackson was not recognized as any type of official functionary of the US Government while conducting any of these negotiations. He did it all on is own, at least in an Earthly (as opposed to Godly) sense. It’s also worth mentioning that Martin Luther King chastised Jackson for following his own agenda and not the Civil Rights Movement’s. For what it’s worth, there is nothing in Scripture that calls followers of God to have blind faith to Earthly movements or political systems. If Jackson did what was right in his eyes and the eyes of God, then he did the right thing.

And that should probably be the thing we all remember about Jesse Jackson. It’s not enough to remember him for his accomplishments or his place in history. To me, the ultimate legacy of a guy like Jesse Jackson is that he followed the Word of God and his conscience. He was a man’s man. Sometimes it’s necessary to do what has to be done even if it’s not popular with the powers that be. Jackson lived that theory. We’re all better off for it.

This is the part where I’m supposed to offer comfort to Jackson’s friends and family. I wish I could. I’m smart enough to know that nothing anyone can say is truly going to help. I pride myself on my writing. I tend to believe that I’ve been blessed by God to be able to communicate clearly and make my points in print, but this assignment is beyond my capabilities. I’m sorry for your loss, truly. I just know how hollow and pointless it sounds when you hear that, especially coming from a stranger.

I’ve lost people myself. Probably the only thing worse than losing someone is having to watch the news coverage of your loss. I went through that when my father drowned and Dad didn’t have anywhere near the cachet that Jackson does. I will say that I’m sorry that they have to deal with people like me drawing attention to their pain. I’ll apologize here, publicly, for doing so myself. Sometimes it’s good to share your pain with other. Sometimes, it’s good to get away from it and talk about something else. When it’s your loved one on TV, you don’t have the second option.

I do hope that, once the pain ebbs, Jackson’s nearest and dearest can appreciate the gift they were given in being able to really know a man that the rest of us only got to see on TV and read about. It’s easy to find out about a great man like Jackson and his accomplishments. You can find pictures of him and MLK online. You can read about his negotiations. But the vast majority of Americans will never know what Jackson liked for breakfast or what he sounded like when he was having a conversation in his house with no cameras around. We’ll “miss” him, but they’ll miss him for real. In time though, through the grace of God, I truly hope that his memory will be a blessing.

Farewell, Reverend Jackson. I will see you when I get there.