Good evening, everyone:

The world has lost one of the great civil rights leaders to have blessed this country. Even though the Reverend Jesse Jackson passed just this morning, there have already been scores upon scores of moving testimonials to his life, influence, and enduring legacy:

Mark Makela, The New York Times

They cast in bright relief a man who was at once:

. . .   a founding member of the civil rights movement of the 60 ’s (who was standing on the balcony of the Lorraine Hotel when Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was murdered)

. . . a stunningly creative and spellbinding orator (perhaps unsurpassed but for the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr.) – there are endless examples, but I recall how his words enthralled and moved the 1984 Democratic Convention “My constituency is the desperate, the damned, the disinherited, the disrespected, and the despised, They are restless and seek relief. ”

Jim Wilson/ The New York Times

. . . a transcendentally talented and galvanizing community organizer (first with the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and then with his Operation PUSH – People United to Save/Serve Humanity – which embodied and advanced his vision of social justice) . . .

. . . an electric, game-altering politician (his presidential runs in 1984 and 1988 were energized by the unprecedented, pathbreakingly-broad tent of the National Rainbow Coalition, which took direct aim at forging common ground through economic equity and opportunity and secured him Democratic primary victories in 13 states in 1988):

. . . an unlikely diplomatic, who played a pivotal role in securing the release of American hostages held captive in multiple circumstances (an air hijacking in Syria, a capture of servicemen in Kosovo, Serbia, and others)  

, , , a role model for generations of civil rights and progressive movement leaders, perhaps most notably the Reverend Al Sharpton:

These dimensions of his life and career made it inevitable that he would have his critics. And yet, whatever criticisms could be launched – whether deserved or not – Jesse Jackson will endure in memory and accomplishment in ways that inspire, invite imitation, and defy simple categorization. As Peter Applebome of The New York Times wrote this morning:

His transcendent rhetoric was inseparable from an imperfect human being whose ego, instinct for self-promotion and personal failings were a source of unending irritation to many friends and admirers and targets for derision by many critics. The writer and social commentator  Stanley Crouch once said, “he will be forever doomed by his determination to mythologize his life. ”

Still, he offered an expansive vision of American opportunity that admirers say helped change the nation ’s landscape of possibility. And his idea of a multiracial coalition empowered by an activist government to confront rampant inequality in American life remains central to the progressive wing of the Democratic Party and has inspired groups like Black Lives Matter.

All of this – and so much more – is a potent reminder that so many of Reverend Jackson ’s qualities stand in the starkest of contrasts to the prevailing contemporary political norms:

?  Using words and rhetoric to inspire, not to denigrate . . .

?  Building coalitions, not vehicles of division . . .

?  Calling people to service, not to the pursuit of narrow self-interest . . .

?  Elevating hope, not cynicism.

May he rest in peace.

Rip

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