Jesse Jackson never lost hope in human redemption, and neither should we

Having covered the late Rev. Jesse Jackson off and on since the 1960s, I am still amused to receive an email from one of my many critics who wants me to know that you don't have to be white to find something to criticize about Black people, as if I didn't know.

- Clarence Page

The Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr. is honored at the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition annual Dr. King Breakfast on Jan. 20, 2025.

(Audrey Richardson/Chicago Tribune/TNS)

In fact, I've made an impressive collection of what I call "I'm not racist, but..." letters, postcards, and emails from readers — many of them well-meaning, I should mention informing me that I should appreciate white people like Jesse Jackson does.

One quote I still receive occasionally is from Jackson himself, spoken in an address to inner-city youth in Chicago in 1993.

"There is nothing more painful to me at this stage in my life," he said, "than to walk down the street and hear footsteps...then turn around and see somebody white and feel relieved."

Journalist David Masciotra, in his book "I Am Somebody: Why Jesse Jackson Matters," gave Jackson an opportunity to explain the remark.

As Jackson explained, he and his family lived in Washington, D.C., during much of the 1990s. Gun violence was epidemic throughout the country; violent crime rates reached their historical peaks in many American cities. Shootings were happening on his own block, and one happened while his wife was standing outside their home.

The fear of young Black men was a new feeling for him.

"In the 1960s, '70s, and '80s, without exception, I would feel less secure and more in danger if a crowd following me was white," he told Masciotra.