Word: jacksonism
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Climbing to that lofty perch seemed to have been Jackson's goal since he appeared on the Today show on the morning after King's assassination in 1968, wearing a turtleneck that he claimed (falsely) had been stained with the martyr's blood as King lay dying in his arms. His good looks and catchy slogans ("Put hope in your brains, not dope in your veins") captivated both the masses and the media. He was candid enough to tell blacks that many of their problems were the result of self-destructive behavior and brash enough to run for President...
Then the scandal broke, and years of accumulated suspicions burst forth--about everything from Jackson's alleged serial philandering to whether his family was unfairly profiting from his deals with corporations. To many blacks, it appeared that his time was running out. "What's his future?" asks Wyatt Tee Walker, pastor of Harlem's Canaan Baptist Church. "That's a no-brainer. Jesse's through. On a scale of 1 to 10, his credibility is about...
Walker is an ally of Sharpton's, but he is also a credible voice--an influential Baptist leader who once served as King's chief of staff. His rage stems from an incident in January, when Jackson, freshly stung by the scandal, was trying to escape the sabbatical from public life he had promised to take. His strategy: organize rallies that would make it appear that the black masses were clamoring for his return. Jackson asked Walker if Canaan was available and Walker said yes, but only for a "service of penance" during which Jackson would make a public apology...
Such blunt criticism would have been bad news for Jackson under any circumstances. But the fact that Walker is also chairman of the board of Sharpton's organization, the National Action Network, based in Harlem, made it even worse. Some Jackson allies see Walker's attack as the first step in an effort by Sharpton to knock Jackson off his perch...
Sharpton denies any such intention. Jackson has been his role model since Sharpton's days as a child evangelist. "I'm not one to think that Rev. Jackson's finished," he says. "I'm not trying to take advantage of his travail. My rise is not at Jesse's expense. If I'm rising it's because I've done the work on issues like police brutality that affect huge numbers of our people...