Jesse Jackson seems to be suffering a messiah complex.

Monday, November 29, 1999

Jesse Jackson seems to be suffering a messiah complex. No, he sustains one and we suffer from his messiah complex.

Jesse Jackson demonstrates more concern for building his own reputation as an international problem solver and friend-of-all-oppressed than he does in actually solving problems or relieving oppression.

His intrusion into the Decatur, Ill schools to defend black rioters against its zero-tolerance policy is just one of the more recent examples of his outrageous behavior.

Just last May he ignored State Department policy by pushing his way into Belgrade and obtaining a private negotiation with Slobodan Milosevic for the release of American soldiers held prisoners.

Their being released was only occasioned by Jackson’s act and not the result of his persuasion. Milosevic played him well and used him to get sympathy for his ruthlessness.

Jackson also succeeded in embarrassing and perhaps discrediting American officials. This was a selfish act of self-promotion and not patriotism or compassion.

I choose not to refer to him in this piece as the Rev. Mr. Jackson, not to deny the fact of ministerial ordination but to signal its disingenuousness.

He has never actually practiced professional ministry, but has always used it as a front for political activity. It is not so much that he professes bad theology but that he has neither theological understanding nor interest. Everything is political philosophy.

He was a self-promoting Martin Luther King, Jr. wanna-be but lacks both the depth and credibility of King. So desperate was he to snatch the mantle from the revered black leader’s shoulders, other blacks close to King’s murder state Jackson smeared King’s blood on himself to make it appear he was closer to King than in fact he was. He is a shameless pretender to King’s throne.

Moreover, Jackson is one of the most racist public figures in America. He has been grossly indulgent of the most outrageous statements and actions of the most radical black-power and black supremacists such as Al Sharpton and Louis Farrakhan while also being theatrically reactionary to the mildest politically incorrect private statements of white politicians and clergy.

He arrived in Austin in 1986 as if the savior of P-9 in its ill fated strike against what was then the George A. Hormel Company.

His rhetorical skill, but also his duplicity, is well demonstrated by his speech that Sunday afternoon. Both striking union members and company supporters told me they were convinced he was on their side. The fact of the matter is that his side was his side. He promised to return to Austin and settle the labor dispute, but we never heard from him again.

Jesse Jackson has, in fact, accomplished a good deal of good through such enterprises as Operation Breadbasket and Operation PUSH. There is nothing wrong with gaining reasonable personal publicity while doing good for others.

His greater number of failures do not invalidate the worth of his several accomplishments.

What I find offensive is that he acts as if he can solve any social problem and wades in with neither restraint nor humility. He makes grand promises where he knows very well he cannot succeed, and then comes out acting the victor role.

When he acts as if he is negotiating by reason, he is actually threatening political embarrassment and mob violence through his staged mass demonstrations. Such as in Decatur.

In his self-perception as the political messiah, Jesse Jackson needs to read the Gospels and recognize how Messiah came to suffer and die for people and of all races.

Wallace Alcorn’s column appears Mondays