Remembering Rev. Jesse Jackson

OPINION:

President Trump called the Rev. Jesse Jackson “a force of nature,” and so he was. Mr. Jackson, who died Tuesday at 84, was the last great orator of the Civil Rights movement. He could bring an audience to cheers or to tears with the power of his personality.

I once accompanied him to a public middle school in the District of Columbia. He admonished the girls in the all-Black audience not to get pregnant and told the boys to respect the girls and refrain from sex until marriage. They seemed to hang on his every word.

Afterward, I said to him: “That should be your main message if you want to help people out of poverty. Not politics.” The temptation that is politics, apparently, was too strong and got him the most attention.

I invited him to speak at Jerry Falwell’s church in Lynchburg, Virginia. At the time, I was working for Falwell. Mr. Jackson delivered what is called a “social gospel” sermon, emphasizing the things of this world and its concerns rather than what conservative Baptist ministers preach about an eternal kingdom.

Before we appeared on a PBS show in Detroit, I watched as Mr. Jackson worked the phones to persuade companies to contribute to his Rainbow Coalition. In return, he promised they would not be picketed. It seemed to work, much like the old Chicago protection money scam in that city’s Mafia days.

Mr. Jackson always seemed to show up wherever cameras were. The staff of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. expressed exasperation because Mr. Jackson would often insert himself into something King was doing. That was especially true on the day King was assassinated. Mr. Jackson rushed to the scene, where he became the center of attention.

Mr. Jackson twice ran for president. CNN summarized those efforts that struck fear into the Democratic Party establishment: “In 1984, Jackson lost the nomination but started a movement he called the ‘Rainbow Coalition.’ By 1988, Jackson was a force to be reckoned with. This time, he faced a crowded primary of established political hands.

“The race, led by Massachusetts Gov. Michael Dukakis, was heated from the beginning. Jackson, a polarizing but outsized figure, was a magnet for media attention. In both 1984 and 1988, Jackson appealed to Black voters in the South, who formed a critical voting bloc in the Democratic primary. But this time, his appeal among White voters was growing as well. In March 1988, Jackson came from behind to win the Michigan Democratic caucuses and set off a panic in his party. For the first time, the party and Jackson himself began contemplating: What would happen if he became the Democratic nominee for president?”

Because of his medical challenges, Mr. Jackson had not been seen in public in recent years, and those who thought they might replace him were shadow figures in comparison. Perhaps his most positive and enduring message was “Keep hope alive.”

• Readers may email Cal Thomas at tcaeditors@tribpub.com. Look for Cal Thomas’ latest book, “A Watchman in the Night: What I’ve Seen Over 50 Years Reporting on America” (Humanix Books).