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26/7/05
7:49 pm
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Drum: GARY YOUNGE IN NEW YORK
Messiah
Complex
To watch Jesse Jackson speak is to watch both a politician
and a performer. Gary Younge in New York.
S
tanding before his audience at the Rainbow/
Push headquarters in Chicago’s Southside he
is the central character in his own production.
Clutching the lectern, grabbing the air, jabbing his
finger or dabbing the sweated beads from his brow
with a bright, white handkerchief, his confidence is
contagious. When he punctuates his speech with:
“Can I have a witness here?” the crowd replies: “You
say it.” When he calls out: “Talk to me somebody,”
they reply: “That’s right.” He calls; they respond –≠
the staple diet of any Baptist minister.
His lyrical qualities enable him to distil political argument into something approaching poetry. Words to
Jackson are like clay to a skilled potter; raw material
which he effortlessly and deftly manipulates to mould,
shape and define something of aesthetic as well as
practical value.
It is a powerful experience. And yet when you leave
the auditorium you can’t help wondering whether you
have just witnessed a magic trick or a great illusionist.
It was real; it was engaging; it was enticing. But what
did it all mean? This is the man who, in 1988, was
the frontrunner for the Democratic Party nomination.
He netted around 7 million votes and mobilised a
huge swathe of the electorate who had
never before been involved or even interested.
And yet by 1992, Jackson was sidelined and
those he had led had been dispersed.
He had secured a huge personal following but nurtured
none of the grassroots activism necessary to build
a radical movement or, indeed, a movement of any
kind. One former aide told me: “He squandered the
possibility to build an organisation or structure. He
really does believe in fast-break politics. So he just
parachutes into a community and sometimes it works
and sometimes it doesn’t. He’s a tree shaker not a
jelly-maker.”
Welcome to the world of African American politics.
A culture which produces strong leaders and weak
movements; and that is high on religion but low on
democracy. A tradition that can rally huge numbers
but has trouble keeping them focused, organised
and motivated.
Like so much else in black American politics these
flaws and attributes are essentially American. This is
a country where political parties exist only to collect
money and elect people but not to meet, debate or