Jesse Jackson passed away today at the age of 84.
I'm not the kind of person who speaks ill of the recently deceased. That's something that I learned during my upbringing in rural North Carolina.
But in the case of Jesse Jackson, I am going to make an exception. Because I believe that there is much to be learned from his life and the choices he made.
Jesse Jackson had been a very good man. A great man even. He preached a terrific message to young black people, encouraging them to rise above their circumstances and make something better for themselves. Jackson was also - I was shocked to discover - VERY vehemently pro-life and spoke often about the evil of abortion.
The original brand Jesse Jackson was a real leader. Someone who had earned respect from many, many people.
But then Jackson ran for President in the 1984 election.
What happened to Jesse Jackson is almost Shakespearean. The man sold his soul to the Democratic Party in order to acquire more power and influence. He abandoned his principles and the messages he had so eloquently spoken to people needing wisdom. Jackson left all of that behind and instead became someone who embraced an ideology that stood against everything that made this a wonderful country for all of us.
The Jesse Jackson who had stood with giants in the civil rights movement - he was at Martin Luther King's side when he died - had gone away. And in his place was someone altogether different. Shallow. Manipulative. The furthest thing from a true statesman.
That Jesse Jackson - the "race hustler" - became responsible for engendering more racial division than most any other person in modern American history. Jackson paved the way for others who exploited race and division: people like Al Sharpton and Barack Obama, and now the proponents of "critical race theory" and pushers of "diversity, equity, and inclusion" that drive wedges between us instead of bringing us together in a common American experience.
Yes, Jesse Jackson had been a good man. But for more than forty years he had been someone else. All because of selling out himself for a bigger seat at the table.
There is a great lesson to be learned from the example of Jesse Jackson. All who would pursue power would do well to study his life. To learn from the great mistake that he made. They should be made to contemplate the true price of chasing after temporal affluence. That is a grievous error that many have made, even in our more recent history.
Tonight I will try to bear in mind the good man that Jesse Jackson had once been. Not the ruined soul who caused so much damage to our culture. And who but God knows, maybe Jackson repented of some things before he passed.
I hope he did.
