Today I received the news that civil rights leader Reverend Jesse Jackson Sr. died. Jackson was a part of Dr. Martin Luther King's inner circle of civil rights leaders in the 1960's. He was present at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis Tennessee when King was assassinated. Jackson later moved to Chicago and founded Operation Push an organization committed to fighting for civil rights and he also ran for President of the United States in 1984 and 1988.
Jackson often spoke using phrases which for me resonate with the addictions advocacy movement. He used these phrases years before the modern addictions advocacy movement took off. Down with Dope Up with Hope. Jackson understood that there was a relationship between drug use in the Black community and the absence of hope. He advocated for equity, fairness in housing and jobs as a way of increasing hope in the Black community. Jackson also frequently said in speeches, Down with dope. Up with hope. Register and vote. He understood that voting was a way a community could help to empower itself. He was right! During the modern addictions advocacy movement we adopted a slogan, We're in recovery and we vote! Addictions advocates such as William White, MA encouraged us to hold townhall meetings with political candidates and to be in support of those who support our desire to provide treatment for individuals with substance use disorder rather than incarceration.
As I type these words I am saddened by the death of Jesse Jackson Sr. When I was a kid in the 1960's Jim Crow laws were in full effect. A message from that era was that Blacks were inferior at everything. My mother would take me to Operation Bread Basket meetings on Saturday mornings (name later changed to Operation Push) and Jackson would have all the youth in attendance stand and repeat the affirmation below.
I am Somebody.
I may be Black. I am somebody.
I may be poor. I am somebody.
I may be hungry. I am somebody.
I may be uneducated. I am somebody.
I may be in jail. I am somebody.
I am Black, beautiful and proud. I am somebody!
I must be respected. I must be protected. I am somebody!
Decades later I still feel pride as I type these words. I left those Operation Bread Basket meetings as a kid feeling like I was somebody in spite of all the negatives said about Black people. During the codependence movement of the 1990's charismatic speakers like Dr. John Bradshaw stressed the importance of affirmations for adults impacted by parental addiction in childhood. In the 1960's Jesse Jackson Sr. recognized the importance of affirmation and reciting them impacted my life.
Reverend Jackson, part of your legacy, having grown up in the segregated south, when Blacks could not vote, is having two sons serve in the U.S. Congress. I pray you are in heaven with the other great civil rights leaders including Frederick Douglass, W.E.B. Dubois, Rosa Parks, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Medgar Evers, Coretta Scott King, Fannie Lou Hamer, Malcolm X and Ella Baker. As we continue to face challenges in this current political climate I pray that we have internalized your generations courage, commitment to advocacy and strategies. R.I.P Jesse Jackson Sr. Thank you!
