Working through some Jesse Jackson reflections, I found myself stuck on these two quotes, below. They feel very “now” even though one is from 2013 and one is from 1988. I think they feel like now because there’s a timeless underdoggedness to them, and maybe it’s my small city mindset or my desire to root for hard-trying heartbreakers, they’re just really good quotes.
Sit with these for a minute:
“Common ground leads to coalition, to cooperation, to reconciliation and redemption, and to higher moral and economic ground. ... I want to say to you young people especially — keep reaching beyond your grasp, keep dreaming beyond your circumstances, keep dreaming of a new Europe. When young people move, the world changes.”
“You must not surrender. You may or may not get there, but just know that you’re qualified and you hold on and hold out. We must never surrender. America will get better and better. Keep hope alive. Keep hope alive. Keep hope alive. On tomorrow night and beyond, keep hope alive.”
I know no person is perfect. I know that’s just what complexity is, and that nuance shouldn’t miss us, even though it so often does. Jesse Jackson was flawed, just like the rest of us, in his own sometimes weird, and oftentimes generational feeling ways, but the core message and his voice carry on.
And oh that voice. I know that there’s a reason I can still hear it in my head, and picture kids doing impressions of it, and that his almost constant presence, especially in my younger years, puts a different sort of memory halo on him.
When I read those quotes I’m happy to feel their weight now. I’m a little sad more hasn’t been done since he’s said them, but I take some comfort in knowing more than nothing got done. Seeds were planted. Ideas were executed as examples and those stories live on.
Yes, we’ve got a long way to go. We still have much to do, in all the social and communal ways his life and remembrance can remind us. There’s no map for what’s ahead, but there’s some well trodden paths directly behind us, and his shoes put in some serious mileage.
America is still a pretty complicated place to call home.
Keep hope alive.
ps. This is a great (quick) retrospective:
BONUS: This is why I can always hear his voice, too
