Reflecting on the recent death of Jesse Jackson.
I was in college in 1988 during his second presidential run. My major was political science, I was at the University of Southern California (USC), and I had a policy of prioritizing classes based on how well they fit my schedule. As a student who commuted on the Los Angeles freeways, my goal was to drive to school the fewest days possible. While that may seem like a less-than-ideal strategy, the advantage was, in retrospect, I ended up taking classes that I otherwise would never have imagined taking.
That’s how I ended up in classes like “Environmental Politics” (where we were adamantly told that fossil fuels would run out by 2000, and that greenhouse gasses would burn us all alive early in the 21st century), the “History of Communism in America,” and “Black Politics.”
That last class was taught by a professor who would become the chair of the political science department the following year. It was in his class that a discussion erupted about Jesse Jackson’s antisemitic description of New York City as “hymietown.1” I should point out here that I was one of three non-black students in the class – and absolutely the only Jew.
I sat there absolutely shocked – I was 20, and not yet the (hopefully) worldly writer you encounter in this column. The conversation was entirely about how “racist” the media was for even reporting the incident (first overheard and reported by a black reporter), and if there was any “debate” going on, it was about whether he even made the comment. Not a single student voiced the opinion that Jackson’s comment was antisemitic, bigoted, or in any way wrong.
Until I spoke up. But I was swiftly shot down and it was made clear, by the professor2, that “slurs” against the “Reverend Jackson” would not be tolerated. Far from an isolated incident, all my initial exposure to real world Jew hatred was while I was in college. Another case being an overheard conversation between two fraternity imbeciles complaining about how great their frat was – except that there were too many Jews. I confronted them also, I turned around and pointed out that they “never knew who was listening – so they should watch their mouths.”
A third incident was the worst during my time there. It was in another class which was friendly to my schedule called “Terrorism & Genocide.” Of course, both subjects interested me long before college, and I had no desire to “learn” about the Holocaust through the filter of a USC professor. But it fit my schedule, was a subject that interested me, and seemed more relevant to my life than most of the other stuff I had taken.
In this case, unusually, the class was taught by two professors. One3 was the current chair of the department (the professor from the previous story succeeded him). Not that it should matter, but the chair, was an Armenian, born in Syria. The other professor was a non-Jewish American whose family originated in Germany (he happily volunteered this information to the class).
Given that the class was on “terrorism” and “genocide” I assumed that we would cover the current outbreak of Arab terrorism against Israelis and Americans, and of course: the Shoah.
Never assume.
For weeks we covered the Armenian genocide, obviously a valid topic. Then one day the subject of Arab terrorism came up. We were told by the German-American professor that he “couldn’t understand why a bunch of Jews from Cleveland, living in the West Bank, think that they have any right to land in Israel.”
I should mention that this was also during the height of the First Intifada.
There was a backlash from the Jewish students, but then as now, no one in power at USC cared what we thought. So aside from pushback from some of us about his comments, there were no consequences for his obvious anti-Jewish bias.
But we definitely spent serious time on the Holocaust after already spending weeks on the Armenian Genocide, right?
Wrong.
On the very last day of class, the poli sci chair wheeled in a TV and VCR. The “teacher” popped in a tape about the Holocaust and then left the classroom. With zero out of two professors in the room, an obviously ancient (even in 1988), black and white, scratchy documentary played to the class.
That was it: the sole moment that the Holocaust was mentioned in a class claiming to teach young college students about genocide.
So, when I heard that Jackson had died, it brought back many of these memories (Which also happens every time antisemitism is reported at USC. It has never been dealt with properly and has grown dramatically since I graduated decades ago).
The coverage of Jackson was predictable. After his death, and to a large extent before as well, Jackson was portrayed as a civil-rights leader, lauded for being the most successful black candidate for president before Barack Obama, and hyped as a protege of Martin Luther King Jr.
The hyperbolic framing of Jackson as a King-type leader was dishonest and absurd.
In reality, he was a genuine conman who ushered in the current age of elevated race grifters. There is a DIRECT link between Jackson and the ascendance of overt Jew hating racists like Louis Farrakhan and Al Sharpton. They would never have existed as well-known figures in American life without him. Meaning: Jesse Jackson is one of the key figures responsible for the resurgence of serious antisemitism in American life, a phenomenon which has accelerated spectacularly since October 7, 2023.
Hosea Williams, himself a respected figure of the civil rights movement, who was by King’s side through many of the seminal events of the era, was very vocal about his adamant view that Jackson was a fraud, even claiming that Jackson smeared King’s blood4 on his jacket to prop up the claim that he “cradled King’s head” after he was assassinated.
If it is a truth contest between Williams, an actual civil rights leader, and Jackson – I will believe Willaims every time, he had zero to gain from lying.
The overblown association with King launched Jackson’s career. So, the fawning hyperbole from major media didn’t surprise me: because that’s how the media has covered him for decades.
The coverage that actually surprised me was Jewish coverage. Jewish News Service (JNS), always reliable, and an outlet that has my full respect, lead with an article by Mike Wagenheim. It was shockingly vanilla in its approach to Jackson. The headline was merely “Jesse Jackson, American civil-rights leader and activist, 84” (totally missing what had happened to Jackson at 84 – they could use a good editor).
Not a word in the headline about Jackson’s legacy of anti-Jewish activity.
My headline would have been something like:
“Jesse Jackson, conman & known Jew Hater who ushered in the worst antisemitism in U.S. history dies at 84.”
Even worse in my view was that the subhead was part of Donald Trump’s statement about Jackson: “Jesse was a force of nature like few others before him.”
What?
Why is a major Jewish publication starting the story on Jesse Jackson with a completely innocuous headline, and a ridiculously absurd quote? A quote which is bizarre coming from anyone Jewish, pro-Jewish, or conservative – the last two supposedly being traits possessed by Trump.
The article continues:
“Jackson rose to national prominence as a protégé of King during the civil-rights movement, and later founded Operation PUSH in 1971 and the Rainbow Coalition during his first presidential campaign in 1984. The nonprofits merged in 1996.”
Protégé of King.
The article did go on to outline Jackson’s “hymietown” quote, his friendship with Farrakan, his 1979 meeting with Yasser Arafat (before people were deluded into believing that the PLO was anything but a cabal of brutal terrorists) in which Jackson said that Arafat was the “legitimate representative of the Palestinian people,” (a position not shared by the government of the United States).
But then Wagenheim went on to supply pathetically fawning quotes by current Jewish leaders:
“America has lost a towering pillar of the civil rights movement, and I have lost a cherished friend,” Rabbi Marc Schneier, president of the Foundation for Ethnic Understanding and senior rabbi of the Hampton Synagogue in Westhampton Beach, N.Y., stated.
“For over 30 years, it was my privilege to share an extraordinary relationship with him in working to rebuild the historic alliance between the Black and Jewish communities,” he wrote.
And then, the rest of the Trump quote:
“(He) said he had known Jackson for decades before entering politics, called him ‘a good man, with lots of personality, grit and ‘street smarts.’”
Yikes.
All of that followed by the predictable fawning quote from Jackson’s family.
None of this nonsense was challenged in any significant way.
My question is, after decades of rising antisemitism, after 10/7, after the more than two years of intense attacks on us across the globe (right up until this week5): HOW are we still this blind?
Why do so many of us ALWAYS seem to feel a need to see things “from both sides”?
It’s not just foolish, it’s dangerous when the other side is filled with people who want to murder us.
Why is it so hard (for many) to identify evil?
Evil is obvious.
Never be afraid. Never give up.
Am Yisrael Chai.
Resources
1. https://www.jta.org/archive/jackson-admits-making-ethnic-slur
2. https://today.usc.edu/in-memoriam-michael-preston-80/
3. https://dailytrojan.com/2012/03/27/professor-offered-book-deal-from-qaddafi/
4. https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=386817213654628
5. https://www.jns.org/topic/antisemitism/
Joshua Namm is a longtime Jewish community pro, passionate Israel advocate, and co-founder/co-CEO of Moptu, a unique social platform designed specifically for article sharing and dedicated to the principle of free speech.