Jesse Jackson as Religious Left Icon

Jesse Jackson’s death represents perhaps the end of two eras. He was an icon of the Religious Left and of the historic black church, both of which have receded from public life, the former almost into oblivion. Jackson was the last great figure of that type.

Jackson was one of the last close associates of Martin Luther King, Jr, having been present at the 1968 assassination. In the 1970s he became a star in his own right, founding Operation Push. A masterful organizer and speaker, he was renowned for his motivational speeches for self-empowerment. He invited young black audiences to chant with him “I am somebody.”

Always ambitious, Jackson was always convinced he was somebody, despite his original poverty and illegitimate birth. He excelled in school and athletics, and a letter of introduction got him a meeting with legendary Chicago Mayor Richard Daley, who offered him a job as toll booth collector. Jackson, with bigger dreams, politely declined. He attended seminary and was ordained a Baptist, although he never pastored a church.

Jackson’s 1970s celebrity elevated him to political influence. He founded the Rainbow PUSH Coalition, shifted left socially, from pro-life to pro-choice, and he ran for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1984 and 1988. His lock on the black vote in Democratic primaries garnered more votes than most expected and enhanced his power. Jackson’s speeches at Democratic conventions were unforgettable barnburners, with only New York Governor Mario Cuomo as oratorical competitor.

In the 1980s, with his new prestige, Jackson focused on foreign affairs. In 1984 he successfully negotiated with Syrian dictator Hafez al-Assad for the release of a downed U.S. airman. President Reagan greeted them both in a White House ceremony. Jackson capitalized on his diplomatic prowess to gain similar hostage releases from dictators in Cuba, Serbia, and Iraq.

Jackson’s stance towards anti-American dictators was at best uncritical. He withheld criticism of Assad, Fidel Castro, Saddam Hussein, Slobodan Milosevic, Robert Mugabe, and others with much blood on their hands. Beyond just retaining his diplomatic equities, he often seemed to sympathize with anti-American tyrants as part of his own global liberationist agenda. In 1986 Jackson hosted Nicaraguan Marxist dictator Daniel Ortega (still in power!) at Jackson’s Chicago headquarters.

Ortega’s Sandinistas were a Religious Left favorite of the 1980s. Although Jackson never pastored a church or led a specifically religious group, he was always “Reverend” and spoke in the cadence of a preacher. He was in the 1980s and 1990s perhaps the highest profile Religious Left figure. His politics were conventionally progressive on nearly all topics but laced with religious rhetoric. At the 1992 Democratic Convention, he called then Vice President Dan Quayle the “Herod of his day” for supposedly, by opposing unwed motherhood, dehumanizing the Virgin Mary. The comment prompted one biblically illiterate network anchor to ask: “Who’s Herod?”

At the height of his influence, the Religious Left was still strong although ebbing. Jackson offered the charisma and oratory that the mostly white Religious Left could never match. He was their beau ideal. Jackson obviously also represented the black church, which is traditionally political and left, although often socially conservative. Black churches gladly supported Jackson during his presidential runs as one of their own.

That was a very different era. The Religious Left now barely exists as an institutional or political force. The historic black church still exists but is declining. Black young people like white young people are far less tied to churches. And young black church goers like young white church goers are more prone to attend non-denominational churches that are likelier multiracial and not tied to old traditions. The historic black church of today could not churn out voters as it did for Jackson in the 1980s and for other candidates.

For decades, much of the historic black church was very political because blacks had been effectively barred from other political institutions. Today the historic black church no longer is as essential to black political organizing, influence, and power. And both politics and religion have shifted from institutions to online influencers. Jackson was masterful behind the pulpit and the rostrum. Could he have been as successful as a podcaster and substacker?

(In 1998 my predecessor as IRD president Diane Knippers was interviewed on television alongside Jackson, and she reported he was, even as an opponent, full of warmth and charm, bantering with her after the interview.)

Jackson streaked through the American political and religious firmament across several decades like a spectacular comet. He never held public office, but he was more influential than most office holders. It’s hard to describe his specific legacy. He was simply a cultural force. And the world he represented is fast fading away if not already gone.

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Churches, Cuba & Communism

Churches, Minneapolis, Protests & Riots

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