…..civil rights leader Rev. Jesse Jackson died Tuesday morning, three months after he was hospitalized with a rare brain disease. He was 84.
Jackson, a former presidential candidate and protégé of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., died peacefully at home in Chicago, surrounded by family, his loved ones said in a statement.
Jackson was a race hustler and political opportunist who never passed up a chance to throw gasoline on a fire.
Some insights on his character traits:
Jesse Jackson Sr. clashed with Martin Luther King Jr. on a number of occasions during the Sixties, and he has often overstated the closeness of his relationship to King—even claiming to have been the last person King spoke to after he had been mortally wounded by an assassin’s bullet on April 4, 1968. Specifically, Jackson claimed that he was on the Memphis balcony with King immediately after the latter had been shot, and that he cradled the dying civil-rights leader in his arms as he took his final breaths. But in fact, at the moment King was shot, Jackson was actually in a nearby parking lot talking to a group of musicians. Kenneth Timmerman describes what happened next:
“When the shots rang out, he [Jackson] fled and hid behind the swimming pool area and reappeared 20-30 minutes later when the television cameras arrived on the scene. That’s when Jesse Jackson told other Southern Christian Leadership Conference staffers, ‘Don’t you talk to the press, whatever you do.’ … Nobody had given him that job. He took that job. Call it ‘entrepreneurial instinct’ if you wish, but on the spot he realized that he had an opportunity to spin the events to create his own persona and create a possibility for him to become a leader in the black movement. He had no prospects at that point.”
A famous photograph showing Jackson and King together on the balcony in Memphis — supposedly moments before King was shot — was also a fraud. As Timmerman explains: “Jesse Jackson was not up on the balcony. They even tried to show the picture of Jesse Jackson up on the balcony with Martin Luther King. That picture was taken the day before. It was a publicity shot.”
………Jackson Embezzles Money from SCLC, Leaves the Organization, & Launches Operation PUSH
SCLC appointed King’s close associate, Dr. Ralph Abernathy, to succeed the slain leader as head of the organization. This move angered Jackson, who had hoped to be the heir to King’s civil-rights mantle. Soon thereafter, a black Chicago Tribune reporter named Angela Parker discovered that Jackson, in the aftermath of King’s assassination, had embezzled money from Operation Breadbasket. Parker went to Atlanta and presented the evidence to Abernathy, who publicly confronted Jackson with the charges. Abernathy suspended Jackson for sixty days beginning on December 6, 1971, and SCLC board chairman Joseph Lowery charged Jackson with “administrative improprieties and repeated acts of violation of organizational policies.”
At that point, Jackson decided to break away from SCLC and establish his own organization called Operation PUSH (acronym for “People United to Serve Humanity”), which he launched on December 21, 1971. Jackson quickly radicalized PUSH’s political agenda, moving to unseat the Chicago delegates of Mayor Richard Daley at the 1972 Democratic National Convention in Miami.
…….Corporate Shakedowns
In the early days of Operation PUSH, the organization’s tactics were essentially the same as those of Operation Breadbasket: targeting corporations that failed to hire blacks or in other ways treated blacks unfairly, and giving assistance to black-owned businesses.
But numerous allegations of extortion and corruption dogged PUSH’s activities over the years, as well as the activities of subsequent Jackson-led groups like the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition and the Citizenship Education Fund (CEF). CEF, for instance, received literally millions of dollars via negotiated settlements with companies that Jackson frivolously accused of racist employment practices. These activities have been documented in numerous sources, most notably in Ken Timmerman’s Shakedown. Indeed, Jackson repeatedly threatened businesses with boycotts, negative publicity, and (implicitly) outright violence if they refused to enrich him or his organizations.
…….Government Money for Jackson
The federal government also funneled at least $50 million of taxpayer money into the coffers of Jackson and his various enterprises. The administration of President Jimmy Carter, for example, directed nearly $7 million in government funds to Operation PUSH.[2]
……..Jackson’s Admiration for Yasser Arafat
In 1979 Jackson visited the longtime Palestinian terrorist leader Yasser Arafat. He met with Arafat again in 1981. In 1979 Jackson said: “One who does not think Arafat is a true hero does not read the situation correctly.” In 1981 Jackson said: “Arafat is educated, urbane, reasonable. I think his commitment to justice is an absolute one.”
Supporting Grenada’s Marxist-Leninist Regime
Jackson was a supporter of the Marxist-Leninist regime in the Caribbean island nation of Grenada, a regime which U.S. forces (under President Reagan) overthrew in 1983.
…….Supporter of the Communist Organization CISPES
In the 1980s Jackson supported CISPES (The Committee in Solidarity with the People of EI Salvador), which backed the communist guerrillas in El Salvador.
First Presidential Run & the “Hymietown” Incident
In 1984 Jackson, alleging that President Reagan’s economic policies had severely impacted African Americans, made the first of his two runs for U.S. President. Despite a revelation by the Washington Post that Jackson had privately referred to Jews as “Hymies,” and to New York City as “Hymietown,” he received 3.5 million votes during the primaries, enough to guarantee respect within the Democratic Party and the chance to give a major speech at the 1984 Democratic National Convention.
……..Communist Workers Party Member Bill Chong Plays Key Role in Jackson’s Presidential Campaign
A noteworthy individual who headed the Asian-American desk for Jackson’s presidential campaign was Communist Workers Party member Bill Chong, who would later go on to serve as board president of Asian Americans for Equality, deputy commissioner of New York City’s Department for the Aging, and commissioner of New York’s Youth and Community Development under Mayor Bill de Blasio.
Communist Party Member Jack O’Dell Serves As Adviser to Presidential Campaign
In 1984 Jackson, joined by his longtime advisor (and Communist Party member) Jack O’Dell and U.S. Peace Council member Mary Tate, paid a friendly visit to Syrian dictator Hafez al-Assad.
Jackson & Fidel Castro: Mutual Admiration
In 1984, Jackson took a 300-person entourage (which included Jeremiah Wright) to Communist Cuba to visit Fidel Castro. Upon arriving at the Havana airport, Jackson greeted the crowd of welcomers by shouting to them: “Long live Fidel Castro! Long live Che Guevara! Long live Patrice Lumumba!” At the University of Havana, Jackson raised a clenched fist into the air and again led supporters in chanting those same slogans, in Spanish: “Viva Fidel! Viva Che Guevara!”
……..Keynote Speaker for CAIR
In March 2010 in Michigan, Jackson was the keynote speaker at a major fundraising banquet held by the Hamas-linked Council on American-Islamic Relations.
He went to Ferguson, Missouri during the Michael Brown riots, and tried to solicit donations to his church.
Much more about this commie clown is at the link.
Good riddance.
About 85 years too late, IMHO. . .