White liberals free at last to lambaste Jesse Jackson

April 14, 2001 2:03 am

HARRISONBURG--It's over, one would hope, for Jesse Jackson.

For years, the news media have given him a free ride, but of late, the paladins of the press have screwed up the courage to ask a few questions about the poetic preacher.

The media turned on Jackson with the revelation of an illegitimate child and a girlfriend paid off with proceeds of dubious origin. That led to a number of enlightening articles about his shady finances.

The latest installment comes from The Washington Post, which recently revealed a list of companies Jackson blackmailed, with threats of boycotts, into giving his causes hefty suitcases full of cash.

But why now? The story has been around for years, and the media surely knew about it. A few weeks ago, for instance, after the story about Jackson's "love child" broke, a news media Web site revealed that reporters have long known about Jackson's extramarital affairs but never disclosed them, even when he was running for president.

Until the adultery was revealed, this Christian minister escaped the scrutiny of those self-righteous stewards of the public weal. Well, here's the answer to the question "why" from a scribe for the Chicago Tribune, who calls Jackson a "shakedown artist":

"In the media, we're white peoplemostly suburban born, mostly Democrats, terrified of being called racists, even if the charge comes from a hustler. Black reporters don't want to become targets, either.

"So news organizations skip timidly around Jackson's finances, though we've known his race baiting has carried a price tag.

"Perhaps it's because we in the media, particularly TV news, have also used him for decades, installing Jackson as chief black translator of the black American experience.

"Through this condescending bargain, this queasy media pact laced with white liberal guilt and white liberal racism, the crafty Jackson has prospered."

Exactly.

Jackson prospered from white liberal guilt and fear. This guilt and fear, of course, also motivate the liberal media's support for affirmative action and its obsession with "diversity," the unspoken, contemptuous premise of which is that blacks and other minorities are inferior to whites and need extra help getting into colleges or getting jobs.

Likewise, the media have not, until now, held Jackson to the same standards of decency and rectitude as they held, say, a fellow such as Pat Robertson.

Consider the different portraits the media painted when the two ran for president: Robertson was the shifty televangelist using loot from his ill-gotten fortune to inject religion in politics; Jackson was the sincere minister of the downtrodden and voice of the oppressed.

The media took on Robertson and, over the years, have turned over every rock in his yard. Not so with Jackson, for the media fear that trump card he always has up his sleeve. He plays it masterfully, knowing when to flip it down on the table to end the debate.

Here's an example: Appearing on the David Brinkley show during one of his ill-fated presidential campaigns, Jackson received the following question from George Will: What do you think of the G-7 and GATT?

The G-7 nations and General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade were big news at the time, and the candidates had taken positions. But Jesse was befuddled.

"Explain that," he said. He didn't know what the G-7 and GATT were, and within hours, Will stood accused of asking a "racist question."

Flip. The trump card was on the table.

But the really harmful questions were never asked.

Until now. And that's because the whites who run the news media feared the ugly charge of race hatred.

But no more. Jackson is unclad. Better late than never.

R. CORT KIRKWOOD, managing editor of the (Harrisonburg) Daily News Record, is a columnist for Toler Media Services. Copyright 2001 The Free Lance-Star Publishing Company.

-- Anonymous, April 14, 2001