Jesse Jackson and His Funeral

This article first appeared in New English Review.

A lot of things have been said about the funeral of Jesse Jackson, and much of the discussion centers around the politicization of the event in Chicago, which was attended by three former presidents, Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, and Joe Biden, all of whom spoke. Also speaking was former presidential candidate Kamala Harris.

Unfortunately, Jackson’s funeral was marred by political speech, mostly coming from Obama and Harris, who took aim at President Trump while not naming him directly. Jesse Jackson Jr. has publicly criticized the speeches altogether as being politically oriented, which the Jackson family had reportedly stated before the funeral that they did not want. They reportedly wanted the service to be centered around Jackson’s life as a civil rights figure, which I also felt was the proper way to go. It is true that Jackson involved himself in political matters, both at home and abroad, and had even attempted to win the Democratic nomination to run for president on two occasions. But it was his civil rights work that should have been the real focus and the only focus of the funeral, in my opinion

Personally, I was not a member of Reverend Jackson’s fan club. I never had any issue with his early rise in the civil rights movement, even though he was more fiery and militant than Martin Luther King. In later years, Jackson came under a lot of criticism over how he pressured private businesses to contribute to his civil rights organizations to avoid being accused of discrimination and being boycotted.  And there was his infamous “Hymietown” comment that led to accusations of anti-Semitism.

In my view, Jackson had every right back in the 1960s to be indignant over how blacks were being treated, particularly in the South, (South Carolina), where Jackson grew up under Jim Crow. While I disagreed with many of his statements in his later decades, I always thought he was a cut above Al Sharpton.

As for the speeches, I felt that Obama’s and Harris’s were the most political and the most offensive. Joe Biden was at his most embarrassing, talking more about himself and rambling as he always does. It was pitiful, and he should have stayed home in Delaware rather than being dragged to Chicago to embarrass himself once again. More than anyone, I blame Jill Biden, who was also present.  Even if Joe wanted to do this, she needs to be protecting him and tucking him into bed at night, not exposing him to further ridicule. As the old expression goes, someone needs to tell her, “It’s over”.

I don’t have any particular issue with Clinton’s words, even though he referred to his impeachment, but taken altogether, the speeches by all of the above politicians put too much of a political tone on the event. With all due respect, this was not the funeral of a former president or senator. In that vein, I recall the 2002 funeral of Minnesota Democrat Senator Paul Wellstone, who died in a plane crash. His service was turned into an ugly political pep rally, in which some Republican politicians in the audience were openly booed. The Jackson funeral did not sink to that level, but I join in the criticism of Obama and Harris for their politically charged words. It was not the time or the place.