By Charlie Brown
"I 'd rather have Roosevelt in a wheelchair than Reagan on a horse." - Jesse Jackson Rainbow Coalition Presidential Candidate
Barack Obama's national electoral coalition majority, his winning Presidential mass of voters, is essentially an actualization of Jesse Jackson's Rainbow Coalition idea from the 1984 and 1988 Presidential Campaign. Listen to the speeches linked below. They are politically prophetic in articulating themes that became winners for Obama in 2008 and 2012.
From this historical fact, progressive activists in 2014 can take heart that the long term grind of building from the grassroots can succeed , can make winning combinations.
Our day-to-day struggles on behalf of the 99% executed with voting consciousness can gain election victories, and make change from the bottom up. Obama himself was a community organizer, like many of us political activists, social workers, legal services workers, union organizers, women's groups, environmentalists, food activists etc.
Jackson garnered a sizable number of votes in primaries , though less than a majority, for the Democratic Party Presidential nomination in 1984 and 1988. 24 years later Jackson's constituency, with community organizing and politicizing, became the majority that elected an African American, to most people's amazement. What a giant step forward for White Americans ! I felt such pride in my fellow Americans who are White, when they smashed the historical scourge of racism by voting in large numbers for Barack Obama for President in 2008 and 2012.
Both the Jackson Rainbow and the Obama Rainbow had to be anti-white supremacist at their cores as their candidates were Black. No racists gonna vote for Jackson or Obama. Of course, by the name Jackson gave his Coalition , Rainbow, he attracted multi-racial support. Obama's winning majorities were the same : all colors of the Rainbow, and heavy Black, Brown , Yellow and Red support. In 1984 and 1988 , we knew in our hearts that not enough white people were ready to vote for a Black person , for Jackson to win. Twenty-four years later, White America took a giant step toward Martin Luther King's dream of an integrated, prejudice-free society, by voting in a large enough minority , a majority in combination with the whole Rainbow , to elect a Person of Color President of the United States of America. We had taken a leap over that last barrier to Jackson's winning in 1984 and 1988.
Jackson explicitly included Lesbian and Gay liberation in the Rainbow, at a time when that movement was relatively small compared to today. Interestingly, LGBT activists now have the Rainbow as a symbol.
Perhaps , Jackson's most memorable line in his speeches is a shout-out for the rights of the disabled: "I 'd rather have FDR in a wheelchair than Reagan on a horse."
Jackson's speeches are a fairly thorough critique of Reaganism at its roots, the ideology still at the core of today's tea Republican lies and demagogy. Jackson outlines ,way back then, the program for us to reverse Reaganism and the tea Party's unAmericanism today. Obama's victories mean we can build majorities to reverse Reagan and the tea Party all the way to the America of Martin Luther King's dream.
And the Obama Rainbow Coalition is a bigger majority than reflected in the elected representation in the States and Congress, as the Snakely Republicans have Gerrymandered to beat the band. When we get around that they are really in electoral trouble
Jesse Jackson Speech to 1988 Convention
: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HHd6XYMlP4I
Never stop dreaming, never surrender, women deserve equal pay, AIDS, Roosevelt in a wheelchair or Bush on a horse?, I was born in a 3 room house, keep hope a...
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Jesse Jackson: 1984 Democratic National Convention Address ("The Rainbow Coalition")
http://www.americanrhetoric.com/.../jessejackson1984dnc.htm
Full text and video excerpt of Jesse Jackson - 1984 Democratic National Convention Speech
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=794323377279037&set=p.794323377279037&type=1&theater
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=794323377279037&set=p.794323377279037&type=1&theater
I'd rather have FDR in a wheelchair than George Washington on a horse; happy Fourth.
I'd rather have FDR in a wheelchair than George Washington on a horse; happy Fourth.
http://take10charles.blogspot.com/2014/07/what-to-michigander-is-4th-of-july.html
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