Who is "Jessie Jackson Jr" and what should one know about him?

Question: Who is "Jessie Jackson Jr" and what should one know about him!?

In the context of these elections!Www@QuestionHome@Com

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker:

That which you will find is most the "Rev!. Jackson's" own press!. "Rev!. Jackson" is the perfect example of "If you yell it loud enough and long enough!.!.!.people just assume it's the gospel"!. Let's take a quick look at ther reality of the "Rev Jackson" being his own "self made man"!.

Those who have known the "Rev!. Jackson over the years have noted his proclivity for finding "what's in it for me"!.

Though he began characterizing himself as a Baptist minister in 1968, Jackson had never actually earned a traditional ordination!.
He failed out of the Chicago Theological Seminary during his first year there!.
Kenneth Timmerman -- author of the authoritative book "Shakedown": Exposing the Real Jesse Jackson -- explains: "[There is normally] a two- to three-year process for earning that title [Reverend]!. Jesse Jackson got himself ordained two months after Martin Luther King was shot!.
It was essentially a political ordination, a shotgun ordination!. !.!.!. He did not go through this two-year process!. He never submitted himself to the authority of the church!. He has never had a church himself, and he has been accountable to no one!."

(All Hail the "Rev!. Jackson" should we kiss his ring or!.!.!.)

It would not be until the year 2000 that Jackson received his Master of Divinity degree from Chicago!. By that time, his son --Congressman Jesse Jackson, Jr!. - was on the board of the seminary!. The younger Jackson had earned his M!.A!. in theology from that same institution a decade earlier!.

Jesse Jackson, Sr!. participated in the Selma-to-Montgomery civil rights march in 1965; Martin Luther King, Jr!., put Jackson in charge of several civil rights projects in Chicago, and Jackson was eventually appointed to head Operation Breadbasket, an organization created by the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) in 1963 to organize boycotts of businesses that failed to hire blacks or otherwise treated blacks unfairly!.
Despite King's and Jackson's professional relationship, the two men were known to clash on several occasions!.

Jackson has often overstated the closeness of his relationship to King, even claiming to have been the last person King spoke to after he had been fatally shot in 1968; when confronted with plain facts on the issue, Jackson has resorted to Biblical parallels, comparing his relationship to King with Paul's relationship to Jesus!. (I seem to remember Paul not being there as Jesus was arrested nor at his death!.)

Specifically, Jackson claimed that he was on the balcony with King immediately after the latter had been mortally wounded by an assassin's bullet on April 4, 1968, and that he had cradled the dying civil rights leader in his arms as he took his final breaths!. At the moment King was shot, Jackson was actually in a nearby parking lot talking to a group of musicians!.

Kenneth Timmerman ("Shakedown")describes what happened next:
"When the shots rang out, he [Jackson] fled and hid behind the swimming pool area and reappeared 20-30 minutes later when the television cameras arrived on the scene!. That's when Jesse Jackson told other Southern Christian Leadership Conference staffers, 'Don't you talk to the press, whatever you do!.' !.!.!. Nobody had given him that job!. He took that job!.
Call it 'entrepreneurial instinct' if you wish, but on the spot he realized that he had an opportunity to spin the events to create his own persona and create a possibility for him to become a leader in the black movement!. He had no prospects at that point!."

The next morning, Jackson flew to Chicago to make a guest appearance on the NBC "Today Show!." In the few hours that had passed between the King assassination and Jackson's flight to the Windy City, Jackson had already hired a public relations agent to accompany him as he was transported from interview to interview in a chauffeur-driven car!.

Before a national television audience on the "Today" show, Jackson donned a shirt that he claimed was smeared with the dying Dr!. King's blood!. "He died in my arms," lied Jackson!.

After King's murder, SCLC chose Dr!. Ralph Abernathy as King's successor!. In 1971 Jackson broke with SCLC and left Operation Breadbasket!. The circumstances that led to his departure were as follows:
A black Chicago Tribune reporter named Angela Parker did some research and discovered that, following King's assassination, Jackson had embezzled money from Operation Breadbasket!. Parker went to Atlanta and presented the evidence to Abernathy, who publicly confronted Jackson with the charges!. When Abernathy suspended Jackson for sixty days, a raging Jackson decided to break away and establish his own organization called Operation PUSH!.

In the early days of Operation PUSH, its tactics were essentially the same as those of Operation Breadbasket: the targeting of businesses that failed to hire blacks or in other ways treated blacks unfairly, and giving assistance to black-owned businesses!.

But numerous accusations of extortion and corruption have dogged PUSH's activities over the years, as well as the activities of Jackson's successor organizations, the Rainbow Coalition and the Citizenship Education Fund!. These activities have been detailed in several sources, including Timmerman's "Shakedown"!.
Jackson has repeatedly threatened businesses and corporations, black and white, with boycotts, racially biased criticism, and (implicitly) outright violence, if they refused to enrich him or his organizations!. Among the companies: Coca-Cola, Texaco, Viacom, AT&T, Boeing, and Coors!. In addition, his organizations have received at least $50 million from the U!.S!. government!.

To site some specifics: Coca-Cola was induced to award a lucrative distributorship to Jackson's half-brother, Noah, in order to protect itself from racially based attacks by Jackson (Noah is currently serving a life sentence in prison for arranging the contract murder of three business associates); Anheuser-Busch awarded a beer distributorship to Jackson's sons, Yusef and Jonathan, for the same reason; President Jimmy Carter directed $7 million in government funds to PUSH; President Bill Clinton sent Jackson on a junket to Africa that cost American taxpayers $42 million; Jackson opposed the merger of Viacom and CBS, and attempted to force Viacom to sell the UPN Network to Percy Sutton, in whose Inner City Broadcasting company Jackson held $1!.2 million worth of shares; and Jackson opposed the merger of SBC Communications and Ameritech until Ameritech sold its cellular business to a group headed by Chester Davenport, another Jackson friend!.!.!.

And the saga continues!.!.!.!.
The "Rev!. Jackson" is a shakedown artist whose reputation as an "Christian" would hold more validity if his credentials were affirmed by "The Brothers Grimm"!.

Read the book!.!.!.!.
Over the years Jessie has always rubbed me the wrong way ,as I had felt that something was wrong because I never heard the "Rev!. Jackson" preach the gospel!.!.!. he was always looking for a movement to lead!.!.!. preferably one which had already developed'''
He's not a leader!.!.!. He's an opportunist!Www@QuestionHome@Com

Boy, you must be young! The Reverend Jesse Jackson Jr!. is one of the most well-known African-American minister/preachers in the US!. He was a Democrat primary candidate for President of the US in 1984 and 1988 and is particularly famous for organizing the "Rainbow Coalition!." If you Google "Jesse Jackson," you'll find lots of material on him!.Www@QuestionHome@Com