# Explain the vitriol directed towards Jesse Jackson, please
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-the-vitriol-directed-towards-jesse-jackson-please/411461
**Category:** Great Debates
**Created:** [July 12, 2007, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-the-vitriol-directed-towards-jesse-jackson-please/411461 "2007-07-12T04:18:19Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 3
### Author:  [@Frosted\_Glass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frosted_Glass)
#### Post date: [July 12, 2007, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-the-vitriol-directed-towards-jesse-jackson-please/411461/41 "2007-07-12T18:18:40Z")
[QUOTE=Cowboy8467]
Do you honestly think that Sharpton and Jackson are thinking very carefully before acting? As has been evidenced above they are responsible for helping to incite riots and murders (as in the case of the jewish business). It seems to me that they simply shoot off at the mouth and then disavow any responsibility for their statements. Furthermore don’t even try to garner an apology for what they’ve said, such as Tawana Brawley or the Duke lacrosse case.
[/QUOTE]
No I do not. I was referring to people in more generalized positions of power. I will try to clarify. Over the course of my college career, my university has had a series of race issues. Some went national but most stayed local. The university president is a really good guy who people attacked for delayed responses to these incidents. He is quite open about the fact that he likes to wait until he has enough information to defend his actions. Other administrators had public knee-jerk defenses of their own racial interests.
[QUOTE=Uncommon Sense]
However, I’m convinced that the black community would be better off if they dissappeared. I believe if they were out of the picture that someone else would have the chance to grab the reigns and steer race relations and black leadership in a different direction.
[/QUOTE]
I agree. Helpful black leadership gets little press or recognition with these two running around.
---
### Author:  [@Billdo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Billdo)
#### Post date: [July 12, 2007, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-the-vitriol-directed-towards-jesse-jackson-please/411461/42 "2007-07-12T18:21:26Z")
I’m a white, mostly liberal New Yorker.
I don’t really know much about Jesse Jackson’s history, but my understainding is that he came up within heart of the the Civil Rights struggle. He had an important role in the national political debate as the first credible Black major party Presidential candidate. The extent to which he was simply self-aggrandizing is debatable, but in his prime, there seemed to be some there there. Now he has faded into a cartoonish self-promoter without much substance, but for a time he was a true leading voice and force in Black politics.
Al Sharpton, on the other hand, I know all too much about. He first came to my attention with the Tawana Brawley mess as a “spokesman” for Ms. Brawley, wearing outlandish sweat-suits and an oversize medallion. From that point, has repeatedly appeared at virtually any event where there is a racial angle to be exploited and attached himself as a “spokesman” expressing the outrage of “the black community” whenever anyone didn’t throw him bodily off their porch. He could also reliably deliver up a couple of busloads of black protesters for enough time for the newscasts to tape them chanting on the front steps of the latest purported victimizer.
The improvement in Sharpton public persona from pure race-bating demagogue probably came in the 1992 New York Democratic Senate primaries. Running to challenge the incumbent Al D’Amato were three well-known and fairly evenly matched (white) New York politicians, state Attorney General Bob Abrams, former Congresswoman and Vice Presidential candidate Geraldine Ferraro, and former Congresswoman and holder of numerous other offices Liz Holtzman. Also in the running with these heavyweights was Sharpton, who by this time had abandoned sweat suits for business suits. Unfortunately, the race became such a brutal, ugly, nasty fight between the major Democrats , that Sharpton looked reasonable and gentlemanly in contrast. A bloodied Abrams took the primary and was soundly trounced by D’Amato.
From that point, he has been treated by the media as at least a respectable voice on racial matters. He has courted this by appearing in front of any available camera and giving a quotable sound-bite. He has also repeatedly run for office despite having no possibility of winning, or even gaining credible support.
I won’t detail the several scandals he has been involved in, though his [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_Sharpton) entry lists many of them. I find them highly troubling, particularly the Brawley mess by which he came into public view, but they aren’t really my main objection to him.
Instead, my serious problem with him is that his entire career and persona has been as a self-serving mouthpiece. Other than flapping his jaw he hasn’t done anything of substance to improve the lot of Blacks or anyone else. He hasn’t led any sustained effort to improve conditions, but rather has done little more than express outrage at the hot-button issue of the moment. Indeed, though he claims their mantle, he is an appalling caricature of the many of the accomplished civil rights leaders of the past.
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### Author:  [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)
#### Post date: [July 12, 2007, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-the-vitriol-directed-towards-jesse-jackson-please/411461/43 "2007-07-12T18:24:55Z")
White conservative. Don’t like either of them, reasons have been stated by many others before me. Both have slimy attention-whore personalities.
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### Author:  [@Frosted\_Glass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frosted_Glass)
#### Post date: [July 12, 2007, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-the-vitriol-directed-towards-jesse-jackson-please/411461/44 "2007-07-12T18:29:46Z")
[QUOTE=Mr. Moto]
I’d like to ask you about this as well.
A few decades back, people in positions of power were changing their behavior because they didn’t want guys jumping up and down and creating chaos while they were trying to go about their business as well.
Those guys were named King, Abernathy, Wilkins, and Evers, among others. And rather than protest “diamond merchants”, they welcomed Jews as needed allies in the civil rights movement. Rather than preach against “white interlopers” they tried desperately to turn the tide of white public opinion.
Sharpton is a straight shooter? He seems to go off without warning and aim to me, and some of the folks who get wounded are people he purports to help. The victims of Freddie’s Fashion Mart, after all, weren’t white, at least not for the most part.
So given all of that, why is Sharpton valued?
[/QUOTE]
I just dislike Sharpton less than Jackson because I grew up hearing stories about Jackson being unreliable during the Civil Rights movement when he was first starting out. Overall, I never understood the mentality that favored stepping on another group of people to help your own. To me that is worse than doing nothing because you ultimately end up bringing two groups down.
To answer to your question I value the fact that, in my generation of apathetic 20-somethings, his antics get people thinking and talking.
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### Author:  [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)
#### Post date: [July 12, 2007, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-the-vitriol-directed-towards-jesse-jackson-please/411461/45 "2007-07-12T18:31:39Z")
It takes a certain something to actually lose a lawsuit for slander against a politician. Sharpton has that certain something.
Jackson isn’t as bad as Al, but that is not exactly a ringing endorsement. His efforts to enrich himself and/or his family with shakedowns have already been mentioned.
White, conservative moderate, not fond of race pimps.
> [@](#):
>
> To answer to your question I value the fact that, in my generation of apathetic 20-somethings, his antics get people thinking and talking.
Unfortunately, what it gets people thinking is “what an asshole”.
Regards,
Shodan
---
### Author:  [@pizzabrat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pizzabrat)
#### Post date: [July 12, 2007, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-the-vitriol-directed-towards-jesse-jackson-please/411461/46 "2007-07-12T18:37:54Z")
[QUOTE=Uncommon Sense]
However, I’m convinced that the black community would be better off if they dissappeared. I believe if they were out of the picture that someone else would have the chance to grab the reigns and steer race relations and black leadership in a different direction.
[/QUOTE]
Where does this inflated perception of these guys’ influence and the insistence that blacks need, wish, or are willing to be led come from?
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### Author:  [@pizzabrat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pizzabrat)
#### Post date: [July 12, 2007, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-the-vitriol-directed-towards-jesse-jackson-please/411461/47 "2007-07-12T18:40:06Z")
[QUOTE=Liberal]
Why is it there don’t seem to be any books written by tree hugging environmentalists?
[/QUOTE]
Huh? Did I miss a joke or are you really asking this question unironically?
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### Author:  [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)
#### Post date: [July 12, 2007, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-the-vitriol-directed-towards-jesse-jackson-please/411461/48 "2007-07-12T18:40:13Z")
[QUOTE=pizzabrat]
Where does this inflated perception of these guys’ influence and the insistence that blacks need, wish, or are willing to be led come from?
[/QUOTE]
Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton. Weren’t you paying attention?
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### Author:  [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)
#### Post date: [July 12, 2007, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-the-vitriol-directed-towards-jesse-jackson-please/411461/49 "2007-07-12T18:41:08Z")
[QUOTE=pizzabrat]
Where does this inflated perception of these guys’ influence and the insistence that blacks need, wish, or are willing to be led come from?
[/QUOTE]
Yeah, why don’t you guys all get together and select some new leaders. We white folks need to know what you black folks are thinking, so we need one guy we can go to for that. 🙂
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### Author:  [@pizzabrat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pizzabrat)
#### Post date: [July 12, 2007, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-the-vitriol-directed-towards-jesse-jackson-please/411461/50 "2007-07-12T18:48:13Z")
[QUOTE=Shagnasty]
Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton. Weren’t you paying attention?
[/QUOTE]
So despite all the vilification, that’s the one thing that you decide to believe?
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### Author:  [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)
#### Post date: [July 12, 2007, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-the-vitriol-directed-towards-jesse-jackson-please/411461/51 "2007-07-12T18:53:00Z")
[QUOTE=pizzabrat]
So despite all the vilification, that’s the one thing that you decide to believe?
[/QUOTE]
Your statements aren’t adding up logically. Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton serve the roles they do because they managed to create the position for themselves and then work very hard to keep up the image. The alternative explanation is that they were somehow appointed by black people themselves and that contradicts what you said. You can’t have it both ways.
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### Author:  [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)
#### Post date: [July 12, 2007, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-the-vitriol-directed-towards-jesse-jackson-please/411461/52 "2007-07-12T18:53:17Z")
[QUOTE=Liberal]
Especially Jackson, with . . . his comment about being followed by black versus white men at night.
[/QUOTE]
I’m curious about this.
I have a memory of Jackson addressing a black audience, calling on them to provide the leadership to keep black kids out of gangs and away from violence, and noting that even he experienced more of a gut-feeling of anxiety if he encountered a pair of black youth alone on a street than if he encountered a pair of white kids. If that is the incident, I’m curious what is racist about it. If that is not the incident, I’d be curious to hear about the incident to which you refer.
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### Author:  [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)
#### Post date: [July 12, 2007, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-the-vitriol-directed-towards-jesse-jackson-please/411461/53 "2007-07-12T19:03:04Z")
Have not found the provenance, but the quote (not exactly as I remembered it, of course), dated late, 1993, is
> [@](#):
>
> There is nothing more painful to me at this stage in my life, than to walk down the street and hear footsteps and start to think about robbery and then look around and see somebody white and feel relieved.
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### Author:  [@pizzabrat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pizzabrat)
#### Post date: [July 12, 2007, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-the-vitriol-directed-towards-jesse-jackson-please/411461/54 "2007-07-12T19:30:52Z")
[QUOTE=Shagnasty]
Your statements aren’t adding up logically. Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton serve the roles they do because they managed to create the position for themselves and then work very hard to keep up the image. The alternative explanation is that they were somehow appointed by black people themselves and that contradicts what you said. You can’t have it both ways.
[/QUOTE]
Huh? I asked: Why do people think that 1) Sharpton and Jackson are so influential and 2)black people need to be led
You answered: Because Sharpton and Jackson said so
I responded: So you believe them, despite finding them otherwise to be reprehensible?
Your reply: (Well, I can’t even parse it. Serve what roles? And what does that have to do with the question of their true influence and whether blacks need leaders? Are you saying that if there weren’t really influential, then they wouldn’t seem as if they were influential?)
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### Author:  [@Paladud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paladud)
#### Post date: [July 12, 2007, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-the-vitriol-directed-towards-jesse-jackson-please/411461/55 "2007-07-12T19:33:40Z")
White libertarian. Jackson seems about normally whorish for a mainstream politician, though the idea of a religious leader in politics makes me throw up in my mouth a little.
Sharpton, not so much. The guy incited murderous riots and should at the very least be shunned.
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### Author:  [@Lord\_Ashtar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Ashtar)
#### Post date: [July 12, 2007, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-the-vitriol-directed-towards-jesse-jackson-please/411461/56 "2007-07-12T19:52:41Z")
[QUOTE=Shagnasty]
This is an honest question and a reversal of the OP. What has Jesse Jackson ever done that is helpful and genuine. Everyone I have ever talked to, both black and white, views him the same way that they do Paris Hilton. He just grabbed on to coat tails and then did everything in his power to stay in the spotlight. What has he done on his own?
[/QUOTE]
Didn’t he negotiate the release of those hostages in Kosovo in 1999?
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### Author:  [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)
#### Post date: [July 12, 2007, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-the-vitriol-directed-towards-jesse-jackson-please/411461/57 "2007-07-12T19:57:31Z")
[QUOTE=pizzabrat]
Huh? I asked: Why do people think that 1) Sharpton and Jackson are so influential and 2)black people need to be led
You answered: Because Sharpton and Jackson said so
I responded: So you believe them, despite finding them otherwise to be reprehensible?
Your reply: (Well, I can’t even parse it. Serve what roles? And what does that have to do with the question of their true influence and whether blacks need leaders? Are you saying that if there weren’t really influential, then they wouldn’t seem as if they were influential?)
[/QUOTE]
The confusion is part of my point. I don’t think black people need leaders yet there are at least two men working hard to squeeze themselves into that role. I don’t even know how they managed to get the media to be bed-parters with them but there they are.
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### Author:  [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)
#### Post date: [July 12, 2007, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-the-vitriol-directed-towards-jesse-jackson-please/411461/58 "2007-07-12T20:26:48Z")
White, ex-liberal, hope to vote for Giuliani.
If these two have contributed anything positive to the culture, I’m unaware of it. When I lived in DC, Jackson ran for and won the (unpaid and largely symbolic) post of Shadow Senator for the district. Shadow Senators have traditionally lobbied the “real” Senate for a territory’s statehood ambitions. Jackson abdicated even this sorry-ass minimal responsibility and just kept doing whatever inconsequential crap he usually does, like shake down Denny’s and Eddie Bauer.
The people I admire hold down actual jobs and make some kind of quantifiable impact on society. The two reverends don’t. They embody the concept of “jackleg preacher.”
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### Author:  [@denquixote](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/denquixote)
#### Post date: [July 12, 2007, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-the-vitriol-directed-towards-jesse-jackson-please/411461/59 "2007-07-12T20:47:52Z")
[QUOTE=Cervaise]
Mostly liberal, mixed race mutt (white + hispanic mostly).
I don’t dislike either of these guys to a greater or lesser degree than I dislike any standard-issue self-absorbed camera-seeking careerist politician. They are cut from precisely the same cloth as Joe Lieberman and John Edwards and George “Macaca” Allen and the rest of the political operators. Why they should attract more venom than any other slick-talking self-promoting manipulator of the same stripe, well, that’s the real question, isn’t it?
[/QUOTE]
I would say no that’s not the real question, that is another question. No one I am sure disagrees that you can name a lot of white politiicians who are slick operators and who only act in their own best interests while sometimes accomplishing some good things as a side effect of trying to remain in office. To assert as you do here that Sharpton and Jackson either do not deserve all the venom and vitriol that is heaped upon them or that equal amounts could be heaped on white others is “racist.” If you want to find a bunch of black crooked politicians far worse than Allen and Lieberman I am you can if you make the effort. If you have a specific complaint about John Edwards other than the fact that he is rich and white and has a bad haircut, let’s hear them.
The difference between careerist politicians and the two guys we are talking about is that these two aren’t elected officials but appear with the same or greater frequency on camera, and that both are basically one issue speakers (except for their brief political careers), and it is an issue that they themselves can be faulted on.
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### Author:  [@mlees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mlees)
#### Post date: [July 12, 2007, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-the-vitriol-directed-towards-jesse-jackson-please/411461/60 "2007-07-12T20:52:36Z")
[QUOTE=Lord Ashtar]
Didn’t he negotiate the release of those hostages in Kosovo in 1999?
[/QUOTE]
Yup, as well as a couple other “hostage” situations.
[http://www.rainbowpush.org/about/revjackson.html](http://www.rainbowpush.org/about/revjackson.html)
> **[Jesse Jackson](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesse_jackson)**
>
> Jesse Louis Jackson (né Burns; October 8, 1941 – February 17, 2026) was an American civil rights activist, LGBTQ rights activist, politician, and ordained Baptist minister. A protégé of Martin Luther King Jr. and James Bevel during the civil rights movement, he became one of the most prominent civil rights leaders of the late 20th and early 21st centuries, and an ardent advocate and early supporter of LGBTQ rights in the United States. From 1991 to 1997, he served as a shadow United States sen...
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