According to the Hill, Reverend Jesse Jackson told a crowd, gathered to honor his historic run for the Presidency 25 years ago, that “You can’t vote against healthcare and call yourself a black man.” Jackson was speaking at a reception Wednesday evening hosted by the CBC (Congressional Black Caucus) which was an event aimed at honoring his place in the Civil Rights Movement and his historic presidential bid. The remarks seemed somewhat out of place at such an event, but Jackson appeared intent on using the pulpit bestowed upon him to express his frustration with at least one member of the Black Caucus stating, “We even have blacks voting against the healthcare bill.” The remarks were clearly directed toward Representative Artur Davis (D -Alabama) who voted against House Speaker Pelosi’s bill and is planning to run for governor of Alabama.
Davis was graceful and reserved in his response choosing only to say the following, “One of the reasons that I like and admire Rev. Jesse Jackson is that 21 years ago he inspired the idea that a black politician would not be judged simply as a black leader… The best way to honor Rev. Jackson’s legacy is to decline to engage in an argument with him that begins and ends with race.”
Jackson of course denied that his comments were directed solely at Davis, but simple math will tell you that Davis was the only member of the Congressional Black Caucus to vote against the plan. So, unless there are other Congressmen that Jackson considers to be “black men,” he was referring to Davis.
I continue to be puzzled by stories such as this. At an event marking a historic moment in the Civil Rights Movement and in a year in which our nation elected its first Black President, why do the self-proclaimed leaders of the modern civil rights movement continue to take steps backward when they have every opportunity to be moving forward? Maybe I am naive, or maybe I just misconstrue their true motives and intentions, but shouldn’t such an opportunity and such a culmination of much awaited events lend itself to more aspirational rhetoric? Shouldn’t it be a time to embrace how far we have come as a nation and while not ignoring the obstacles that may still stand before us, make every attempt to make race a non-issue rather than injecting it back into discussions in which time and positive change has made it moot?
I am deeply troubled by this type of outdated and blatantly racist mentality. Sure it is black on black racism, and I know that is taboo to even talk about, but at what point do we call a spade a spade? What difference does the color of Davis’s skin make in his decision to vote against this bill? Does his skin color imply a precondition or an empathetic posture that will force him to protect the well being of the black community as a whole over that of his own constituents? Again, I may be naive, but I do believe that such ignorant rationale is part of what stood in the way of Black politicians for generations and created significant barriers to their participation in the political forum. The ignorant and ill-conceived notion that a black man in Alabama would care more about black men in New York than white men in Alabama is precisely the sort of idea that I thought the Civil Rights Movement and Jackson’s historic presidential bid aimed to disspell.
Again, I may be naive, or I may simply be an optimist blinded to the realities of race relations in the 21st century, but I do believe that the day for such despicable rhetoric has run its course; and if it has not, then it certainly should have by this late a day in American history. As a white man of a younger generation, I cannot begin to understand the road that Reverend Jackson has traveled to arrive here today, but as a member of that younger generation – naive with hope and aspiration for a better tomorrow – I am ashamed of Mr. Jackson when he wants to relive the ignorance of yesteryear and bring it to the public forum of today. Masking racism in the cloak of black unity is no less offensive than when it bears any other skin color. Racism is racism… and it should be put to rest.
You can read the full article at The HILL
