# Did Jesse Jackson really say this? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 9, 2002, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-jesse-jackson-really-say-this/113064 "2002-06-09T04:33:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![saoirse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@saoirse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saoirse)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2002, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-jesse-jackson-really-say-this/113064/21 "2002-06-11T13:40:01Z")
I am a lefty-liberal, and I used to read Insight (the magazine that was the Washington Times) magazine every week during the early 80s. I found their own reporting to be generally accurate, at least as accurate as in the mainstream media. Where they became suspect was in repeating “facts” reported in other publications, especially conservative ones. This became especially bad in the Washington Times during the Clinton Administration, when they were repeating just about any charge made against Clinton, no matter how absurd. ---
**Author:** ![Morgainelf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Morgainelf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgainelf)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2002, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-jesse-jackson-really-say-this/113064/22 "2002-06-11T13:55:41Z")
> [@](#): > > _Originally posted by tarpal \* > \*\* > …communist civil rights movement…_\* Huh? ---
**Author:** ![RiverRunner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/977dab/32.png) [@RiverRunner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RiverRunner)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2002, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-jesse-jackson-really-say-this/113064/23 "2002-06-11T14:34:37Z")
In general, I have no use for Jesse Jackson, but in this case I’m inclined to respect what he had to say. It sounds like he’s trying to make a point about black-on-black crime (I admit I haven’t read the quote in its entire context, so I could be wrong). If that’s the case, I rather admire his honesty. I also don’t think it makes much of a case in favor of racial profiling, but I can see how some folks would try to use it that way. RR ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2002, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-jesse-jackson-really-say-this/113064/24 "2002-06-11T14:40:44Z")
If he did spit in people’s food-while that’s really gross and disgusting and I in no way condone it-you can read hundreds of similiar stories at Customers Suck. ---
**Author:** ![tarpal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dfb087/32.png) [@tarpal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tarpal)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2002, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-jesse-jackson-really-say-this/113064/25 "2002-06-11T15:52:39Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by RiverRunner \* > \*\*In general, I have no use for Jesse Jackson, but in this case I’m inclined to respect what he had to say. It sounds like he’s trying to make a point about black-on-black crime (I admit I haven’t read the quote in its entire context, so I could be wrong). If that’s the case, I rather admire his honesty. \*\* His honesty? Oh puleeease. Jackson now denies ever saying this. Backpeddling frantically, he now claims that his statement was “taken out of context”. Yearrrright. Source: The New York Times Magazine Article reprinted here: [http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/2381/CanadaCustomsandRevenueAgency/colourofsuspicion.html](http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/2381/CanadaCustomsandRevenueAgency/colourofsuspicion.html) ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2002, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-jesse-jackson-really-say-this/113064/26 "2002-06-11T23:07:28Z")
**tarpal** said > [@](#): > > **Jackson now denies ever saying this.** Backpeddling frantically, he now claims that his statement was “taken out of context”. Yearrrright. While you are correct about his seeming backpeddling, you are incorrect about what I bolded in your statement. I will grant you that the quote which has been reprinted in many a publication is correct. But, …I would love to have been at that meeting and heard the speech in its entirety. I would love to have accesss to the sentences that were spoken _before_ the quote and _after_ the quote. It might, truly, have been taken out of context. Again, Jesse is a rather self-serving person, and I don’t always agree with him. But, I don’t think you/we have enough info to make a defininte statement. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2002, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-jesse-jackson-really-say-this/113064/27 "2002-06-11T23:15:55Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Guinastasia \* > \*\*If he did spit in people’s food-while that’s really gross and disgusting and I in no way condone it-you can read hundreds of similiar stories at Customers Suck. \*\* WTF? At Customers Suck, the stories involve getting revenge against rude or mean people. Jesse did it to white people regardless of their behavior, just because of their race. You do see the difference, don’t you? Haj ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2002, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-jesse-jackson-really-say-this/113064/28 "2002-06-11T23:51:50Z")
Of course. However-since I’m not a fan of Jackson’s, it doesn’t disturb me that much-besides, he may have made it up-wouldn’t surprise me. I’m more upset about the fact that someone is trying to defend himself with a David Duke cite. ---
**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2002, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-jesse-jackson-really-say-this/113064/29 "2002-06-12T02:53:40Z")
Eh, I don’t think Tarpal was “defending” himself, I think he was just posting a link to the first Google hit for the article about spitting in food, which happens to be on David Duke’s website. So he was actually trying to be helpful. 😃 And IIRC that was the website that prompted the other thread which was asking about Jesse spitting in people’s food. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-jesse-jackson-really-say-this/113064.md?page=1)