# Did Jesse Jackson Ever Apologize For This? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 14, 2010, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-jesse-jackson-ever-apologize-for-this/536072 "2010-04-14T16:12:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2010, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-jesse-jackson-ever-apologize-for-this/536072/21 "2010-04-15T02:45:26Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Looked at another way, you could say that the original statement was itself the apology. How so? Why would Jackson be apologizing from street crime? I’m pretty sure he’s never mugged anyone. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2010, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-jesse-jackson-ever-apologize-for-this/536072/22 "2010-04-15T02:53:13Z")
Not for street crime, he was admitting to sometimes feeling fear of young black men and expressing shame about it (i.e. “apologizing” for it). He was confessing to a weakness, even to hypocrisy. He was not defending the feeling. Essentially, the OP is asking whether he apologized for confessing human imperfection. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2010, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-jesse-jackson-ever-apologize-for-this/536072/23 "2010-04-15T03:50:43Z")
He didn’t express shame; he expressed pain - that’s a big difference. Shame would imply he felt the fault lay within him for feeling something that had no basis in reality. Pain would imply that there were legitimate reasons why an older man might be worried if he saw a group of young black men following him and that he was unhappy that that reality existed. In support of this, I found some more context. Here’s what Jackson said, _“We must face the No. 1 critical issue of our day. It is youth crime in general and black-on-black crime in particular. There is nothing more painful to me at this stage in my life than to walk down the street and hear footsteps and start thinking about robbery. Then look around and see somebody white and feel relieved. After all we have been through, just to think we can’t walk down our own streets, how humiliating.”_ ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2010, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-jesse-jackson-ever-apologize-for-this/536072/24 "2010-04-15T04:03:10Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > In support of this, I found some more context. Here’s what Jackson said, _“We must face the No. 1 critical issue of our day. It is youth crime in general and black-on-black crime in particular. There is nothing more painful to me at this stage in my life than to walk down the street and hear footsteps and start thinking about robbery. Then look around and see somebody white and feel relieved. After all we have been through, just to think we can’t walk down our own streets, how humiliating.”_ You would need to sign up for a free trial to read it, but [this link goes to a November 1993 article in the Chicago Sun-Times that gives a longer account of what Jackson said at the PUSH meeting.](http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-4202423.html) ---
**Author:** ![The\_Great\_Philosopher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3ec8ea/32.png) [@The\_Great\_Philosopher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Great_Philosopher)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2010, 10:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-jesse-jackson-ever-apologize-for-this/536072/25 "2010-04-15T10:29:13Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > I think you’re overcomplicating this. > > [According to Wikiquote,](http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jesse_Jackson) he made those statements to a meeting of Operation PUSH in Chicago in 1993. They add that he found the feeling “humiliating.” The original source (which Wikiquote may not be aware of) may be [this Mike Royko column](http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1346&dat=19931201&id=rZgsAAAAIBAJ&sjid=cfwDAAAAIBAJ&pg=5089,44540).\* If that’s the original source, I don’t think we’re going to find the whole speech. But Rokyo says Jackson was talking about crime in the black community, and I think that makes more sense. Well that’s what I meant: that he was saying there are parts of the country where crime is much higher amongst the black community than the white community, so sometimes even the Reverend is relieved to find he’s being followed by someone white, which upsets him. ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2010, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-jesse-jackson-ever-apologize-for-this/536072/26 "2010-04-15T13:36:53Z")
Did anyone else think was going to be about the “I want to cut his nuts off” comment (which he did apologize for profusely) instead? ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2010, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-jesse-jackson-ever-apologize-for-this/536072/27 "2010-04-15T15:47:31Z")
> [@The\_Great\_Philosopher](#): > > Well that’s what I meant: that he was saying there are parts of the country where crime is much higher amongst the black community than the white community, so sometimes even the Reverend is relieved to find he’s being followed by someone white, which upsets him. I think we’re in agreement. I just don’t know where you’re getting the ‘some parts of the country’ thing. He didn’t say that. He was talking about a general feeling and his comments don’t seem to be restricted to particular cities or neighborhoods. > [@muldoonthief](#): > > Did anyone else think was going to be about the “I want to cut his nuts off” comment (which he did apologize for profusely) instead? Unfortunately for him, there were cameras and microphones at that one. And YouTube had been invented. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2010, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-jesse-jackson-ever-apologize-for-this/536072/28 "2010-04-15T16:06:04Z")
> [@](#): > > Did anyone else think was going to be about the “I want to cut his nuts off” comment (which he did apologize for profusely) instead? Actually I was thinking this was going to be about Hymietown. ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2010, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-jesse-jackson-ever-apologize-for-this/536072/29 "2010-04-16T01:32:01Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > \*There’s a discrepancy on the dates here: Wikiquote says he made those comments on December 4, 1993, but the Royko column is from December 1. He says Jackson spoke “last Saturday,” which might be November 28. Try this link for the whole Sun-Times article (I can’t guarantee it’ll work) [http://infoweb.newsbank.com/iw-search/we/InfoWeb?p\_action=doc&p\_topdoc=1&p\_docnum=1&p\_sort=YMD\_date:D&p\_product=NewsBank&p\_text\_direct-0=document\_id=(%200EB42167B5EB3CB0%20)&p\_docid=0EB42167B5EB3CB0&p\_theme=aggdocs&p\_queryname=0EB42167B5EB3CB0&f\_openurl=yes&p\_nbid=G52T47ECMTI3MTM4MDIyNy4xOTU1NTg6MToxNDoyMTYuMTQ3LjIxNS4zMw&&p\_multi=CSTB](http://infoweb.newsbank.com/iw-search/we/InfoWeb?p_action=doc&p_topdoc=1&p_docnum=1&p_sort=YMD_date:D&p_product=NewsBank&p_text_direct-0=document_id=%28%200EB42167B5EB3CB0%20%29&p_docid=0EB42167B5EB3CB0&p_theme=aggdocs&p_queryname=0EB42167B5EB3CB0&f_openurl=yes&p_nbid=G52T47ECMTI3MTM4MDIyNy4xOTU1NTg6MToxNDoyMTYuMTQ3LjIxNS4zMw&&p_multi=CSTB) The date of the article is given as Monday, Nov. 29, 1993. So “last Saturday” would be Nov. 27. I’ve updated wikiquote. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2010, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-jesse-jackson-ever-apologize-for-this/536072/30 "2010-04-16T03:23:19Z")
Nice work! ---
**Author:** ![Breadfruit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/898d66/32.png) [@Breadfruit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Breadfruit)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2012, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-jesse-jackson-ever-apologize-for-this/536072/31 "2012-04-14T13:05:45Z")
What would have been the response of those who are dropping all over themselves to explain “The Rev” if he were white? Oh! Not just white - say Rush or Newt? Would you have accused them of being racist? That is the point to ponder. FBI data indicate that more than 75percent of crimes against black people are by black males under 30. ---
**Author:** ![Jenaroph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e8c25b/32.png) [@Jenaroph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jenaroph)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2012, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-jesse-jackson-ever-apologize-for-this/536072/32 "2012-04-14T13:28:25Z")
Well, it’s sure fun to speculate about other how other people would be hypocrites, isn’t it? Especially zombie hypocrites. But given the exact sentence as prefaced (“There is nothing more painful to me…”) it hardly sounds like someone speaking as an unrepentant racist. It’s a thought-provoking comment, a confessional one, whether it came from a black person or a white person. It would be a little bit of a non-sequitur for a white person to reference black-on-black crime and then talk about their own experience walking down the street, but I assume in a necessarily different context, it would still be hard to paint it as anything other than something the speaker regretted. In the case of Rush or Newt, I’d probably think they were trying to score some good-guy points instead of being sincere, but that’s because those two are assholes with histories of being insincere, not because they’re white. ---
**Author:** ![isaiahrobinson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/85e7bf/32.png) [@isaiahrobinson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/isaiahrobinson)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2012, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-jesse-jackson-ever-apologize-for-this/536072/33 "2012-04-14T13:55:16Z")
> [@Breadfruit](#): > > What would have been the response of those who are dropping all over themselves to explain “The Rev” if he were white? Oh! Not just white - say Rush or Newt? Would you have accused them of being racist? That is the point to ponder. FBI data indicate that more than 75percent of crimes against black people are by black males under 30. This is an old thread and I’m not sure why you’ve resurrected it, but I don’t think this comparison makes much sense. The equivalent would be for Rush Limbaugh to say “There is nothing more painful to me … than to walk down the street and hear footsteps and start thinking about robbery, then look around and see somebody black and feel relieved.” It’s in such a radically different context to the Reverend that I don’t think it even makes sense to consider it. ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2012, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-jesse-jackson-ever-apologize-for-this/536072/34 "2012-04-14T14:00:21Z")
> [@Breadfruit](#): > > What would have been the response of those who are dropping all over themselves to explain “The Rev” if he were white? Oh! Not just white - say Rush or Newt? Would you have accused them of being racist? That is the point to ponder. FBI data indicate that more than 75percent of crimes against black people are by black males under 30. Isn’t that what Jesse Jackson was addressing? I mean I’ve read the entire quote and everything, and I speak as an oppressed white male. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2012, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-jesse-jackson-ever-apologize-for-this/536072/35 "2012-04-14T15:32:58Z")
> [@Breadfruit](#): > > What would have been the response of those who are dropping all over themselves to explain “The Rev” if he were white? Oh! Not just white - say Rush or Newt? Would you have accused them of being racist? That is the point to ponder. FBI data indicate that more than 75percent of crimes against black people are by black males under 30. Let me guess. You’re just asking questions. And you probably have black friends. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-jesse-jackson-ever-apologize-for-this/536072.md?page=1)