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Friday, January 19, 2001
There are those who say that a man who has a child out of wedlock has no moral authority whatsoever. I'm not of that school.
The Rev. Jesse Jackson's affair with a Rainbow Coalition employee is a serious matter. He's made a mockery of his marital vows, exposed his family to ridicule, and poured contempt on his calling as a Baptist minister.
In other words, he's violated every ethical code our species has used to muddle through life since the light of reason and morality first clicked on in our brains and we began keeping track of our neighbors' behavior.
Does this mean that a man who dishonors his family is forever disqualified from pointing out the mistakes of fellow citizens in political matters? If Jesse were to mount a dais on Inauguration Day as planned to protest voter disenfranchisement in Florida, should he be pulled down from his pedestal and stoned for adultery?
Are sexual and political morality always to be given equal weight, no matter what? Is there any other society on Earth that brags as much as we do about adhering to democratic and pluralistic values while subjecting dissidents to a moral drubbing as severe as any they'd receive in a theocracy?
Unfortunately, in the calculus of American morality, chads will always take a back seat to chastity. After all, there's nothing prurient about inequality, injustice or thievery in high places. It's easier to talk about hush money for mistresses, paternity tests and strained family dynamics than about the issues Jesse regularly raises.
Still, I'm not uncritical when it comes to Jesse Jackson. I happen to be more outraged by his disastrous influence on American foreign policy toward Africa than I am by a troubling sex scandal. Our stance toward Sierra Leone is an abomination, thanks to him. We treated the military dictatorship that once ruled Nigeria with kid gloves because Jesse was a friend of the regime.
That's a bigger obscenity than a sordid tale of a mistress and child well provided for in California. Financially supporting his shadow family is an example of something he's done right in recent years. I'd go as far as to say the statement he issued yesterday is actually quite beautiful and moving. He may be a scoundrel, but at least he's owning up to it.
Yes, Jesse deserves to be held accountable for behavior that has deeply wounded his wife and children. I'm sure his family is doing that. But there shouldn't be a lot of finger pointing and tongue wagging by pundits over this. Very few Americans are in a position to gnash their teeth over Jesse Jackson, given the nation's high rate of infidelity.
If we can barely bring ourselves to yawn at the dalliances of our favorite celebrities on the covers of supermarket tabloids, why feign so much shock and horror over Jesse's indiscretion? Why is Jesse, of all people, given more weight than the average celebrity deserves?
Is it because he's a Baptist minister? Is it because he was once a part of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s inner circle of advisers? Is it because he was the first viable black presidential candidate in the '84 and '88 Democratic primaries?
Against all logic, a charismatic, but terribly flawed orator has become the supreme spokesman of black America. Whether praised or demonized, Jesse has become the shorthand for 28 million individuals. No one man, whatever his virtues or peccadilloes, should be accorded the symbolic weight to raise up or bring down anyone but himself.
If John Ashcroft doesn't speak for all white Southern Pentecostals, then Jesse shouldn't speak for me.
Having said this, I don't agree that Jesse's completely obliterated his effectiveness, though he's certainly diminished any moral authority folks were tempted to impute to him. Taking time out from public life to work on healing his family sounds like a good move. He needs to step aside and allow others to engage the powers-that-be on the issues he cares about.
When he returns from the marital doghouse he so richly deserves, he'll be even more conscious of his solemn responsibility to not only tell the truth, but to live it. This isn't just Jesse Jackson's burden to bear. It belongs to all of us.
Tony Norman's e-mail address is: tnorman@post-gazette.com