As usually you all killed it! I saw Jesse in 1988 at Hunter College in New York City. My friends and I were ready to run into a wall for him after hearing him speak. But, as usually, our doubt in our fellow Americans (white people) brought us back to post reagan reality. The land of opportunity constantly makes us acquiesce to the path of least resistance and least satisfaction.
I'm sure I am not the only unfucker who watched Jesse's entire speech on youtube. One of the most telling moments, for me, watching the speech was seeing Bernard Shaw watching Jesse (he was a very popular anchor on CNN back in the day 99) and his two co-anchors (white) ignoring the speech. I think my fellow students, family and friends picked up on the, what we call now, professional managerial class (pmc) actively ignoring Jesse Jackson. In ignoring Jesse the pmc were also ignoring the working class. I hope it's not too late to learn from our mistakes.
And yes, MannyFaces, you engineered da fuck out of the episode! Thank you for giving respect to Johnny Kemp. Who did you use as background music for Jesse's convention speech??
Max, thank you for introducing to the REAL Rev Jesse Jackson. Having grown up elsewhere, I came to hear of Rev Jackson when he was mired in scandal. I’m disappointed that I couldn’t appreciate the man until now. I took a moment and listened to his entire 1988 speech. Besides being feeling like I was cutting up onions, it wasn’t lost on me that there were so many echoes of Bernie Sanders in his points. Indeed, it was by far the best progressive speech I’ve ever heard. Can’t believe the DNC screwed him over like that.
Favorite line: better to have Roosevelt in a wheelchair than Reagan and Bush on a horse.
Thank you so so much for taking me on this deep dive of appreciation.
I wish that I was more politically awake when Jesse Jackson was running, but as a high school kid, I couldn't have given a shit. I grew up in a very conservative household so my dad who is not only a conservative Mormon but also a bit racist, he tainted my views of JJ unfortunately.
I shared part 2 to my dad and asked how I didn't learn more of Jesse Jackson, only for him to respond with a picture of a Jesse '88 button and his recollection of my parents voting for him in the primary only to be derided for it amongst family and friends. I'm glad they voted for Rev Jesse Jackson, and subsequently I listened to all 9 parts of his '88 speech, only to get to the end where he was criticized for arriving a minute late, after learning on UNFTR that his speech was pushed later in the evening to begin with! It was infuriating. As a history major, I knew very little and only learned topically of Rev. Jackson's run in college, which even at that point in the early 00's, his presence in political runs like Prof G or the Ugandan mentioned here was painted in the light of mild popular interest, whereas he gained nearly 7M votes in the primary. This entire series was a sobering reminder of the existence in which I grew up as a white middle or perhaps low-class economic member with parents who were fond lovers of education and reading, and I remember the fanfare he rode into office while ultimately remembering my dem parents and grandparents, from regretfully support Clinton since they were and remain, "New Deal Democrats." I see why.
As usually you all killed it! I saw Jesse in 1988 at Hunter College in New York City. My friends and I were ready to run into a wall for him after hearing him speak. But, as usually, our doubt in our fellow Americans (white people) brought us back to post reagan reality. The land of opportunity constantly makes us acquiesce to the path of least resistance and least satisfaction.
I'm sure I am not the only unfucker who watched Jesse's entire speech on youtube. One of the most telling moments, for me, watching the speech was seeing Bernard Shaw watching Jesse (he was a very popular anchor on CNN back in the day 99) and his two co-anchors (white) ignoring the speech. I think my fellow students, family and friends picked up on the, what we call now, professional managerial class (pmc) actively ignoring Jesse Jackson. In ignoring Jesse the pmc were also ignoring the working class. I hope it's not too late to learn from our mistakes.
And yes, MannyFaces, you engineered da fuck out of the episode! Thank you for giving respect to Johnny Kemp. Who did you use as background music for Jesse's convention speech??
As always, thank you for a great episode!
Max, thank you for introducing to the REAL Rev Jesse Jackson. Having grown up elsewhere, I came to hear of Rev Jackson when he was mired in scandal. I’m disappointed that I couldn’t appreciate the man until now. I took a moment and listened to his entire 1988 speech. Besides being feeling like I was cutting up onions, it wasn’t lost on me that there were so many echoes of Bernie Sanders in his points. Indeed, it was by far the best progressive speech I’ve ever heard. Can’t believe the DNC screwed him over like that.
Favorite line: better to have Roosevelt in a wheelchair than Reagan and Bush on a horse.
Thank you so so much for taking me on this deep dive of appreciation.
I wish that I was more politically awake when Jesse Jackson was running, but as a high school kid, I couldn't have given a shit. I grew up in a very conservative household so my dad who is not only a conservative Mormon but also a bit racist, he tainted my views of JJ unfortunately.
I shared part 2 to my dad and asked how I didn't learn more of Jesse Jackson, only for him to respond with a picture of a Jesse '88 button and his recollection of my parents voting for him in the primary only to be derided for it amongst family and friends. I'm glad they voted for Rev Jesse Jackson, and subsequently I listened to all 9 parts of his '88 speech, only to get to the end where he was criticized for arriving a minute late, after learning on UNFTR that his speech was pushed later in the evening to begin with! It was infuriating. As a history major, I knew very little and only learned topically of Rev. Jackson's run in college, which even at that point in the early 00's, his presence in political runs like Prof G or the Ugandan mentioned here was painted in the light of mild popular interest, whereas he gained nearly 7M votes in the primary. This entire series was a sobering reminder of the existence in which I grew up as a white middle or perhaps low-class economic member with parents who were fond lovers of education and reading, and I remember the fanfare he rode into office while ultimately remembering my dem parents and grandparents, from regretfully support Clinton since they were and remain, "New Deal Democrats." I see why.