‘A Cause and Crusade’ : Jackson’s Successes Inspire Black Hopes

As is his weekly habit, Democratic Rep. John Lewis returned to his district in the heart of black Atlanta one recent Thursday and headed straight for Anderson Barber Shop on Martin Luther King Jr. Drive.

“Jesse Jackson. Jesse Jackson,” Lewis said. “That’s all people were talking about from the time I got there until the time I left.”

Neatly trimmed, Lewis, a longtime civil rights activist who marched with King and Jackson in the 1960s, headed across the street to Paschals, a famous black-owned hotel and political hangout. There, he encountered more of the same.

After enough backslapping about Jackson’s success and conjecture on his prospects, Lewis started for home, where he promptly telephoned his 74-year-old mother in rural Troy, Ala. “The first thing she starts telling me was that she was praying for Jesse Jackson to do well,” he said with a laugh. And the next morning at Tilton Elementary, where Lewis spoke to third-, fourth- and fifth-graders about being a distinguished member of the House, “every question was about Jesse Jackson.”

“It’s everywhere,” he said. “Even my 11-year-old son, he runs around the house saying: ‘Jesse Jackson has got to win. I hope he wins.’ ”

For blacks across the country, the Rev. Jesse Jackson and his campaign have created a whirlwind of excitement and activity that observers say has been absent since the civil rights movement, and that may in fact be the harbinger of a new era of black activism.

‘Focus and Discussion’

“Almost at every level in the black community, the Jackson candidacy has been a subject of focus and discussion,” said Ed Brown, executive director of the Voter Education Project, a 25-year-old nonpartisan organization that encourages black voter participation in the South. “I haven’t seen this level of political intensity since the ‘60s. There just seems to be a buzz in the air.”

Jackson’s campaign has generated enthusiasm far beyond just blacks, as evidenced by successes in largely white states of Michigan, Maine, Vermont and Alaska and Jackson’s inroads into other segments of the population. While coming in first or second in primaries and caucuses in 24 states, Jackson has garnered strong support among Latinos, labor, gays and lesbians and others.

But among blacks, Jackson’s campaign has a special significance. His name has become almost a password; his campaign a symbol of pride, black empowerment and hope. And it has spawned a guarded optimism among many who reason that as America appears nearly ready to accept a black presidential nominee, just maybe it is much closer than previously thought to fully accepting black Americans too.

Despite Jackson’s defeat in the New York primary Tuesday, which significantly diminished his chances of winning the nomination, his candidacy’s grip on black minds and hearts appears to be as strong as ever.

“Jackson has already won,” said Rep. Ronald V. Dellums (D-Berkeley). “We started off with nine candidates and Jesse Jackson has survived seven capable, experienced white males who sought the presidency. He has outlasted them, out-campaigned them and in many ways outthought them. He has laid to rest once and for all the notion that a black cannot credibly run for the presidency of the United States.”

Ambassador for Blacks

“Jesse Jackson has been able to take a presidential bid and turn it into a cause and crusade,” said H. L. Ross, a black pollster in Atlanta. “He has been anointed by the black electorate as the ambassador of good will for black people. He has successfully filled the void that has existed over the years, that has existed since the death of Martin Luther King.”

Around the country, blacks follow his campaign with an almost personal fervor, rushing home to the evening news or calling friends to find out the latest primary results.

“It’s like the old days when we used to gather around the radio to see how (heavyweight boxer) Joe Louis was doing, or when Jackie Robinson broke into baseball,” said Lachree Steverson, a Memphis schoolteacher.

Jesse Jackson Buttons

On Capitol Hill, cafeteria workers in House and Senate buildings proudly display Jesse Jackson buttons on their uniforms. In black-owned shops and stores, such as La Tete, a beauty salon across the street from Macy’s Department Store in mid-Manhattan, or Joshua’s, a nightclub in Inglewood, Calif., Jesse Jackson posters line the windows.

“Even the black Republicans on campus are impressed and give him grudging respect,” said Loretta S. Burns, 38, an English professor at Tuskegee University in Tuskegee, Ala. “In my class, I’ve sometimes had trouble steering the discussion away from him and back to the subject matter.”

In predominantly black public schools across the nation, pictures of Jackson line bulletin boards. In Los Angeles, students at Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary have penned poems about Jackson as a class project. At Washington Preparatory High School, classes are tracking his campaign and evaluating his positions.

Educators report that black students participating in the Proficiency in English Program oratorical contests across the country, routinely choose to recite Jackson’s speech to the 1984 Democratic National Convention.

Demand for Memorabilia

The demand for Jackson memorabilia is so strong that Jackson shirts, buttons, pins and other paraphernalia, including a Jackson hand-held fan, have become fund-raising tools for the campaign.

A growing list of campaign-sponsored Jackson mementos can be had for a “minimum campaign donation.” The latest additions are satin baseball jackets and special children’s jackets. “Those are really hot,” said Sybil Griffin, national fund-raising director.

In Los Angeles at the Brockman Gallery, which specializes in African and African-American art priced up to $10,000, a limited edition “Jesse Jackson” silk screen is being offered at $350. And there are two Jackson records, “Run, Jesse Run,” featuring Lou Rawls and Phyllis Hyman, and “Jump Jesse Jump,” by the cast of the hit Broadway play “Sarafina.”

The excitement grew as blacks watched Jackson overcome the odds.

‘A Good Role Model’

“For me the one word is ‘inspired,’ ” said Anita Luckie, 32, an adviser with the Los Angeles Unified School District. “I’m inspired by the fact that a black man can go out and compete on equal footing for the presidency of this country. He’s articulate, he’s a good role model for our children.”

Larry Woods, 37, a personnel manager at Hughes Aircraft, said: “The whole thing leaves you with a little bit more feeling that there are a lot of things possible now that were not possible in the past. Race is less a factor than it has been in the past.”

But Woods, like many blacks, is also wary. “The degree of change is hard to gauge, because if Jackson were put in a position to get in the White House, I think it’s kind of hard to predict what the response would be, whether those people who voted for him in the primary will vote for him in the general election.”

Wave of Optimism

There also is fear that the wave of optimism could come crashing down if Jackson is not offerred the vice presidential spot on the Democratic ticket or is otherwise slighted in August at the Democratic National Convention in Atlanta.

One ranking black congressman has privately told colleagues that “the day of me routinely supporting two white males on the ticket is over.”

Loyal Black Democrats

Dellums, who related the conversation with the other congressman, added: “The decision not to be on the ticket should be (Jackson’s). Blacks have been the most loyal members of the Democratic Party. We have a right to believe that in the context of the Democratic Party, we can be full participants in the process.

“If Jackson is not the vice presidential nominee, a lot will depend on how Jesse reacts. If Jesse communicates dissatisfaction with the process, I think a lot of people would take a walk. I don’t believe that the Democratic Party can win in November with this group of people taking a walk.”

But for now, Jackson’s campaign has made many believe that what they once thought was impossible is imminently achievable.

“I thought we would never have a black President or black vice president in my lifetime,” said Linda Williams, 38, a senior political analyst at the Joint Center for Political Studies in Washington. “But now, I think so.”

Rep. Julian C. Dixon (D-Los Angeles) felt the same way.

“Even after Jackson’s 1984 campaign, I didn’t believe it,” Dixon said. “But now I do. I couldn’t do it. I’m too old. But I believe it is now in the reach of my son.”

More White Support

Encouraging, many said, is the fact that whites have cast their votes in much greater numbers for a black man to sit in the highest office in the land.

“It makes me feel a little more comfortable, a little more hopeful for the next several years,” said Doreen Hodge, 38, a state personnel manager in Atlanta whose boss and a white co-worker voted for Jackson. “The fact that whites are saying: ‘Yes, we think that he can represent us,’ that makes me feel good. I say, gosh, I guess we’re on the same team here.”

For Reginald Van Lee, 30, a New York management consultant and a graduate of Harvard Business School, there is a special empathy and a special motivation generated by the campaign.

“All of my adult life I have been in positions where I was in rarefied situations for someone black,” he said. “So, I understand the aspiring to do something a black person supposedly could not do. There’s a certain amount of pride in seeing someone do something like this in another arena. It encourages me. It says to me that I don’t have the right to give up. I’m not the only one suffering through hardship, who’s trying and aspiring.”

Blacks Moved to Act

Aside from merely inspiring blacks, Jackson has moved them to action. Blacks are registering to vote in record numbers.

In 1984, 2.5 million blacks registered to vote, more than double the number of registrants for 1980. Nearly seven out of every 10 new black registrants reported that they did so because of the Jackson campaign.

And this year, that same enthusiasm has sent blacks to the polls in unprecedented numbers. In seven of the 12 Southern states that held the March 8 Super Tuesday primaries, black turnout was substantially higher than white turnout. In Alabama, for example, black voter turnout was 33% where white voter turnout was only 23%.

And blacks, certainly not known for their political contributions, have reached into their pockets.

“I attended a fund-raiser in Baldwin Hills three or four weeks ago and there were over 1,000 young black people there at $100 a person,” said Margaret Bush-Ware, 40, a longtime community activist. “There was a time when the people who supported any kind of campaign were your people who had been established in the community for many years, so there is a new generation of givers and donors out there.”

Surprise at Success

Part of the fascination with the Jackson campaign may come from simple surprise at its success.

More than a year ago, Bishop H. H. Brookins, a prominent leader of the Los Angeles black community, sat chatting with a reporter in his Crenshaw Boulevard office when he received a telephone call.

“That was Jesse,” said Brookins, who was a key adviser to Jackson in his 1984 campaign. “He wants me to put together a group of ministers to support him when he runs for President again.”

Brookins, a bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, paused and chuckled. “I think he’s going crazy. He really thinks he can win the thing. These white people ain’t gonna vote a black man President. It’s foolish.”

Despite Jackson’s New York loss, Brookins is eating his words these days, and enjoying the taste. “I feel 10 feet taller because of what he’s done,” Brookins said. “I’m extremely proud. He has to be given credit for having the nerve to try it when everybody else was a coward on the proposition.”

Not All Blacks Thrilled

Not all blacks or black elected officials are thrilled by Jackson’s bid. Detroit Mayor Coleman Young actively campaigned against him in Michigan, and longtime black activists such as Atlanta Mayor Andrew Young, Coretta Scott King and Hosea Williams have been either critical or noticeably absent from the Jackson camp.

“Jesse is doing well for Jesse,” said Georgia state Rep. Tyrone L. Brooks, Jackson’s friend for 20 years and his Georgia campaign chairman in 1984. “He’ll get lots of coverage and exposure, but when you look at the overall strategy, I don’t think the people we were trying to help in 1984, the poor, the dispossessed, are going to be better off.

“If the Democrats lose in 1988, Jackson will get the blame. That’s going to set the clock back for getting us a viable black candidate on the ticket in 1992 or ’96.” Others, however, have been electrified by the campaign.”

‘History in the Making’

Rep. Mickey Leland (D-Tex.) said: “It’s rare that you get a chance to watch history in the making. It’s phenomenal.”

Lewis, the Georgia congressman, said: “Jesse has taught us that you don’t have to wait to get the OK to run. If you want something, you pursue it. Go straight to the people. He’s teaching black politicians that you can run well if you create viable coalitions, that you don’t have to deal with just black districts.”

Consequently, black politicians are beginning to take closer note of the fact that a third of the nation’s 303 black mayors were elected in towns and cities that are not predominantly black, that eight black judges and five black state administrators have been elected statewide and that congressmen such as Dellums and Alan Wheat (D-Mo.) represent districts that are less than 23% black.

Ross, the Atlanta pollster, said Jackson’s campaign has turned his thinking totally around.

“We have been our own worst enemies,” he said of black politicians and activists. “We have been the ones telling ourselves that America is not ready to elect a black for President. (Atlanta Mayor) Andrew Young is thinking about running for governor. If he had told me nine months ago that he wanted to run for governor, I would have said no. But nine months later, I’m saying yes and go for it.” Politicians are taking note that black voters have demonstrated a new strength far beyond their raw numbers in determining who the presidential nominee will be.

Won Alabama Primary

For instance, while blacks make up 23% of the voting age population in Alabama, they are 44% of the Democratic electorate. Jackson won that primary. In Illinois, where Jackson ran a close second, blacks are 12% of the voting age population but 24% of the Democratic electorate. In Mississippi they are 31% of the population but 44% of the Democratic electorate; in Georgia, 24% of the population and 35% of the Democratic electorate. Jackson won both states.

Special Campaign

Regardless of the outcome of the Democratic convention in Atlanta, this campaign will always leave Lewis with something special.

“It makes me realize that the work we did in the early and mid-’60s and all the effort we did to get people registered to vote was not in vain,” Lewis said, “that being arrested, beaten and put in jail in Selma was worth it.

“I just wish people like Fannie Lou Hamer, Medgar Evers, the three civil rights workers who were killed, Martin Luther King Jr., Lyndon Johnson and all the nameless and countless individuals in the South who took such great risk could be here to see the dream moving more and more towards reality.”