Another Soldier Gone...

 

I remember meeting Jesse Jackson on the campaign trail in 1984. It was pre cell phone so of course I don't have any pictures to prove it. We weren't wired like that yet. LOL! 

He was running for president, campaigning somewhere in Atlantic County, New Jersey. I remember being excited to drive the 45 minutes or so to see him. Of course, we supported him. He was going to be our first Black president. We believed that if anybody could do it, Jesse Jackson could do it.

It didn't hurt his candidacy that he was very easy on the eyes. Jesse Jackson was a very handsome Black man and who didn't love his fro'? We saw you and we heard you Reverend Jackson. ✊🏾

Reverend Jackson ran again in 1988. I remember wearing the campaign sweatshirt to my 10-year high school class reunion. Unlike now, we never discussed politics when we were in school. That was left to our parents I suppose. I remember getting a grown up wake up call at that reunion. I did not reunite with the kids I grew up with and was so excited to see. The pushback was real. Was it the sweatshirt? 🤷🏾

My sweatshirt screamed who I was politically. It was clear that the kids I had grown up with were mostly not Democrats and probably didn't support Jesse Jackson's candidacy. Ironically, it was the same many years later when we had another reunion during President Obama's campaign. The 10 year reunion, however, was indication to my younger self, that our lives had taken very different paths. We were not the same kids from Clayton High School oblivious to politics or leaving politics to our parents. We were adults now, some were parents themselves. Politics did matter and whether we had discussed or realized it as children or not, politics had shaped our lives and who we had become.

Reverend Jackson had charm, he had wit, he had grace, he was smart, he had worldwide appeal and presence. He became known for his slogans. He was the first politician on the national scene to preach a message of hope. He told us to raise our fist, lift our head, and be proud as we echoed in call and response his inspiring chant of, "I am somebody". We believed him. His chant was reinforced by James Brown telling us to be Black and Proud. And, proud somebodies we were. There was cause to hope for change. We we were witnessing it.

Reverend Jackson, and his Push for a Rainbow Coalition, will be forever remembered as a soldier in the Army for Civil Rights in America and beyond. His efforts and his influence were global. The world revered him, as did we. He did his part and certainly, he made us proud.

In commemoration of him, I think, I will pull out that old sweatshirt from the 1988 campaign and wear it today in his honor. May he rest in eternal peace.

Thank you Rev. Jackson.

🙏🏿