Letter To Jesse

Dear Rev Jesse Jackson.

There are some things, not many, that really bite ass with me and you just happen to be one of them. So don’t take this personal, just take it. I mean where in the hell do you get off with saying that Barack Obama is not black enough to head this country? First of all George W, Bush of this posting has not proved to be smart enough to assert the position of president and yet he is. But dumb is dumb and nothing says ignorant more than “one is not being black enough’ or as you so well put it in regards to the six black juveniles’ arrested on attempted-murder charges in Jena, La. that Mr. Obama is “acting like he’s white.”

 

Then you had the gall to say ““Jena is a defining moment, just like Selma was a defining moment,”

 

Now hold on a minute Mr. I marched with Martin Luther King and held him in my arms as he lay dying. (I did my research and YOU were there but you were not the one holding him as he lay dying.) But, let’s not split hairs instead let’s review a simple fact, just one fact, not two, five or seven, just one:

 

Selma vs. Jena.

 

Prior and up to the mid 60’s African-Americans were mistreated, beaten and more than not, lynched just because they were black. That my friend, must I remind you, was a way of life for many black people that stepped up and tried to make something of their lives not to mention the countless others that were just there being.

 

Yes, it was the civil rights movement that changed all that – and that movement was black and white, brown and yellow, red and just about every other shade in between. It wasn’t just a matter of people being black enough. I think you are losing sight of what really was. Does the concept of compassion come into play for you at any place in your brave new world? If so then how in the hell can you come off saying that Senator Obama “is acting white” because he is taking on issues of heath care, the elderly and the war in Iraq instead of a high school skirmish. True, this high school braw have been a little overwhelming for the city counsel but we have a war going on, kids starving, adults starving, we have the homeless, we have people dying from diseases that could be easily taken care of with proper available medication. We have a nation in need of a real leader.

I agree with you that suspension of the white kids from school is not as severe as the black juveniles going to jail, but they did commit a crime of assault which happens to warrant a charge in itself. If anything the whites should have been charged with a hate crime for running up the nooses on the school tree and yet that may still may come about, but that is not the same as Selma in the 60’s.

 

A friend of mine once said as I was pissing in an alley after an Iron Butterfly concert back in ’69: “In my country we have a saying that when you have a bucket of crabs you never have to put a top on the bucket because they will never get out. As one crawls about all the crap and seaweed and shit to get out and as he’s near the rim of the bucket, the other crabs will reach up as they are trying to get out too and they end up pulling the one nearing the top back in.

 

I have no idea what that had to do with me urinating in an alley but it stuck with me.

 

So with that said, I know it’s been tough on you going though life looking like a pit bull on PMS but come on Jesse don’t drag one of our hopefuls down just because he doesn’t run around yelling “Man, dats whack what’dey be doin in Jena. Not only is that reverse racist-speak in its own right but it’s downright poor grammar.

Sincerely Mr. WLA

Photo borrowed from Associated Press.

Comments

[Pauline]

Wonderful entry.

Love the crab metaphor.

[alvin]

Thank you m'dear, your comments are much appreciated.

[Tildy]

Um... you held MLK as he lay dying? Is my willingness to believe this evidence of a sense-of-humor failure?