Jesse Jackson
Jesse Jackson (born 8 October 1941), original name Jesse Louis Burns, is an American Black minister and politician. He participated in the Civil Rights Movement and worked for Martin Luther King Jr.
Jackson told reporters he was the last person to speak to King, and that King died in his arms – an account that several King aides disputed.
Later, accused of using King's organization the Southern Christian Leadership Conference for personal gain, Jackson was suspended by the organization, whereupon he formally resigned.
Jackson has founded Operation PUSH (People United to Save Humanity) and the National Rainbow Coalition, which were later merged to form the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition. They have supported not just pro-Black Jews, but feminist and pro-homosexual views.
A controversy was when it was revealed that he had fathered a child out of wedlock.
He has also caused controversy due to a relationship with Louis Farrakhan of the Nation of Islam and for various claimed anti-Semitic comments. Jackson later apologized and distanced himself from Farrakhan.
Jackson has made comments such that "Zionism is a kind of poisonous weed that is choking Judaism.”, that he was “sick and tired of hearing about the Holocaust.", that traditional Democratic support for Israel is because of “the Jewish element in the party … a kind of glorified form of bribery.”, that then President Richard Nixon was being insensitive to the poor, since “four out of five [of Nixon’s top advisors] are German Jews and their priorities are on Europe and Asia.”, and that he had “seen very few Jewish reporters that have the capacity to be objective about Arab affairs.” He has since apologized.[1]
External links
Encyclopedias
References
- ↑ Don’t ask, don’t tell https://www.salon.com/2000/08/17/jackson_10/
