July 30, 2023

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - "No generation can choose the age or circumstance in which it is born, but through leadership it can choose to make the age in which it is born an age of enlightenment, an age of jobs, and peace, and justice." - Jesse Jackson

It was the repeated refrain of a poem composed in the 1940s by Atlanta pastor and civil rights activist Rev. William Holmes Borders Sr.  But Rev. Jesse Jackson’s call-and-response with a multi-racial group of children on Sesame Street in 1972 made it an anthem for a generation.

I am – Somebody.

Rev. Jackson, who this week announced his retirement from the organization he founded, the Rainbow PUSH Coalition, is not just a beacon of hope or a pillar of strength; he is a trailblazer, a mentor, a friend, and an inspiration to me and countless others.

As a teenaged protégé Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Jackson was an eyewitness to some of the most pivotal moments in civil rights history, including King’s tragic assassination 1968. 

“It’s a hurtful, painful though,” he said, “that a man of love is killed by hate; that a man of peace should be killed by violence; a man who cared is killed by the careless.”

Jackson’s tireless fight for voting rights, economic justice, and racial equality have left an indelible mark on our nation and have been a guiding force for the National Urban League's work.

Of that generation who picked up the torch directly from King, only Jackson and Andrew Young, remain, carrying it forward to illuminate the path towards justice and equality. When the assassin’s bullet stilled King’s voice, it was Jackson's that thundered forth, resonating the clarion call for justice well into the 21st century.

In 1984 and again in 1988, I proudly traveled as a delegate to the Democratic National Convention to cast my vote for Jackson. His keynote address at the 1984 convention inspired a generation of young leaders – myself included – and continues to resonate today:

“This is not a perfect party. We are not a perfect people. Yet, we are called to a perfect mission. Our mission: to feed the hungry; to clothe the naked; to house the homeless; to teach the illiterate; to provide jobs for the jobless; and to choose the human race over the nuclear race.”

His historic presidential runs were not mere campaigns; they were seismic shifts in the political landscape. Jackson ran with purpose, with passion, and with an unyielding belief in the possibility of change. Finishing third in 1984 and second in 1988, Jackson shattered the glass ceiling for future leaders like Barack Obama.

The National Urban League and the Rainbow PUSH Coalition share a common mission. We both strive to empower African Americans and other marginalized communities, promote economic and social justice, and fight for equal opportunities for all. Our organizations have long been intertwined in this shared mission, working side by side to bring about meaningful change.

Jackson founded People United to Serve Humanity – Operation PUSH – in Chicago in 1971 to promote the employment of Black Americans by the companies operating in their communities, and to nurture Black-owned businesses. The National Rainbow Coalition was a political movement that grew from Jackson’s 1984 Presidential campaign. Jackson merged the two organizations in 1996.

For more than five decades, Rainbow PUSH has served as a blueprint for multicultural coalition building. Jackson advanced the idea that elected office was not just a position of power, but a platform to advance social and economic justice. He gave voice to progressive issues and served as a relentless catalyst for change, creating productive tension that spurred action.

In his retirement statement, Reverend Jackson said, "I have been doing this stuff for 64 years... I've had a good run." Indeed, he has. His life's work has brought about significant change and progress, and his legacy will continue to inspire and guide us.

As we navigate this transition, we welcome his successor, Frederick Douglass Haynes III, a man of equal passion and commitment. Haynes, a longtime civil rights activist and former president of the National Baptist Convention USA, is poised to carry the torch forward.

Haynes has pledged to work tirelessly to build on the legacy of Rev. Jackson and to ensure that the Rainbow PUSH Coalition remains a powerful force for justice and equality. The National Urban League is proud to support him in this mission.

In the spirit of Reverend Jackson, let us continue to carry the torch of justice, to push for a world where everyone, regardless of their race or background, has an equal opportunity to thrive. Because, as Reverend Jackson has shown us, when we fight for justice and equality, we don't just change the world, we create a new one.

NEWS ANALYSIS

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - On July 16, Reverend Jesse Louis Jackson announced that he would pivot from his role as President of the National Rainbow Coalition to become a university professor and advisor to his successor, the Reverend Frederick Douglas Haynes III, an activist and the pastor of Friendship-West Baptist Church in Dallas. This announcement, accompanied by a laudatory speech from Vice President Kamala Harris, should have been front-page news. Instead, except for the Chicago newspapers, Jackson’s resignation from the group he founded in 1971 garnered very little national news. 

However, Rev. Jackson's transition from leadership was big news to the people who worked on his 1984 and 1988 Presidential campaigns. A couple hundred Jackson delegates and campaign workers gathered for a reunion at the PUSH headquarters on July 14-16 to reminisce and celebrate Jackson's decades of leadership. The man whose mantra was "Keep hope alive" offered hope to those disheartened by the recent rise in racism, virulent anti-blackness, legislative and judicial hostility resulting in attacks on voting rights, and the reversal of affirmative action.

Jesse Jackson has not disappeared from the national scene. Instead, too many want to write Rev. Jackson off, just as they have attempted to write off history. The sentiment to ignore Jackson is the same sentiment that has allowed truth-deniers to introduce legislation outlawing teaching about race in forty-four states. Thanks to Jackson campaign veterans, though, the world will learn that biased journalists cannot bury either history or hope. At a time when state legislators and Supreme Court justices have attacked voting rights, Jackson's legacy in registering more voters than any other single individual in history is unassailable. And who can deny Jesse Jackson's international impact – from his rescue of Lt. Robert Goodman from Syria through his work on the anti-apartheid movement and his relationship with Nelson Mandela? His international reach is reflected in his participation in this year's PUSH conference, which includes delegates from several African countries, the Caribbean, and Europe. 

His peers in the civil rights movement sent tributes of recognition. They came from the National Urban League's Marc Morial to the National Action Network's Al Sharpton, to tweets from Presidents Bill Clinton and Joe Biden to Chicago's mayor Brandon Johnson, appreciation rained down on Rev. Jackson. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Marcia Fudge defined PUSH – as "to press upon a thing with force to move it away, to move something in a specified way by exerting force."  She noted that PUSH has been a force for justice, a force against the barriers of racism. There are setbacks, she said, to be sure. But as long as that force is there, there will be change.

That the United States Vice President traveled to Chicago to salute Jackson crystallizes his importance to the nation and the world. Kamala Harris shared how important Jackson has been to her life and career and said she would not be Vice-President were it not for Jackson's work. Others shared similar tributes, and I, too, have a testimony. I met Jackson first in 1973 as an Essence Magazine intern and later worked on the 1984 campaign. I vividly remember his assertion in his speech at the Moscone Center that "God isn't finished with me yet ."  Indeed, since 1984, God has continued to mold, shape, and bless Rev. Jackson.

 Jackson isn't giving rousing speeches anymore. But he still brings us to our feet. He doesn't shout. The Parkinson's he has battled since 2017 has reduced his mighty roar to a whisper. But his whisper is that of hope and history. "Keep hope alive," he tells assembled delegates. "I am somebody," he quietly encourages the crowd in his trademark chant. And the delegates engage in the traditional call and response, amplifying Rev.'s voice, reminding him that while illness may have muted his voice, those who appreciate his contribution to history are ready to receive the baton he is passing and confront the evil forces that would eradicate our rights. As long as we can chant back, keeping hope alive, Rev. Jesse Jackson's place in history is secure. He inspires the nation and the world. Those who appreciate the Jackson legacy will not allow hope or history to be buried.

Dr. Julianne Malveaux is an economist, author, and Dean of the College of Ethnic Studies at Cal State LA. Juliannemalveaux.com

July 11, 2023

Viola Ford Fletcher with Hughes Von Ellis, survivors if the Tulsa Massacre

Special to the Trice Edney News Wire from BlackManStreet.Today

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - An Oklahoma judge rejected demands for reparations resulting from the 1920 Tulsa Massacre in which more than 300 Blacks were killed, and hundreds were left homeless following an attack led by Whites of the Greenwood Neighborhood, also known as Black Wall Street.

The lawsuit was brought by a Black man and two Black Women over the age of 102 who were children at the time.

Lewis Bennington Randle, 108, Viola Fletcher, 109, and Hughes Van Ellis,102, sued Tulsa because the city refused to recover from the plaintiff’s unjust treatment.

The City of Tulsa called for the dismissal of the lawsuit, and Judge Caroline Wall agreed.

Judge Wall dismissed the lawsuit prejudice, which man the plaintiffs could not bring the lawsuit again.

Ike Howard, the grandson of Viola Fletcher, said he was angry about the ruling, “They were blighted and once again not made whole,” Howard said."We remain blighted. We wish the D.O.J would investigate. … How can we get justice in the same city that created the nuisance? Is justice only for the rich?"

A family attorney is expected to address the possibility of an appeal. 

It started this way with a White woman's tears.

 On the morning of May 30, 1921, a young black man named Dick Rowland was riding in the elevator in the Drexel Building at Third and Main white woman named Sarah Page. 

Tulsa police arrested Rowland the following day and began an investigation. An inflammatory report in the May 31 edition of the Tulsa Tribune spurred a confrontation between black and white armed mobs around the courthouse where the sheriff and his men had barricaded the top floor to protect Rowland. Shots were fired. African American men pulled out their rifles and fought back, according to the Tulsa Historical Society.

There was no turning of the cheek, but they were eventually overwhelmed.

Whites employed low-flying airplanes to strafed Black-own homes by dropping bombs.

In the early morning hours of June 1, 1921, Greenwood was looted and burned by white rioters. Governor Robertson declared martial law, and National Guard troops arrived in Tulsa. 

Guardsmen assisted firemen in putting out fires, took African Americans out of the hands of vigilantes, and imprisoned all black Tulsans not already interned. Over 6,000 people were held at the Convention Hall and the Fairgrounds, some for as long as eight days.

No one has been tried for the massacre.