Jesse Jackson: Obama 'is the result of our struggles'

Created in 1926 by black historian, scholar, educator and publisher Carter G. Woodson, it began as "Negro History Week."

By 1976, it morphed into Black History Month -- a celebration of the contributions of blacks to America and their struggles to overcome.

From Africa to slavery. The Civil War. Jim Crow and lynchings. Sit-ins and marches. Brown vs. Board of Education and the Civil Rights Act. Assassinations. A historic presidency.

With history yet to have its full say regarding President Obama, we interviewed a broad spectrum of his fellow Chicagoans and prominent visitors on what the month means to them and whether it's still relevant in 2010.

We'll bring you their thoughts throughout the month, beginning today with Operation PUSH's founder, the Rev. Jesse Jackson, a protege of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., a two-time presidential candidate and arguably Chicago's most prominent civil rights leader.

"There's no history quite like black history, and it's always an error when people confuse that history with any other group who came here from some distant shore. No one else came here as slaves, and it distinguishes African Americans from immigrants.

"We did not come here as immigrants. We came here as the commodity, and for many years, African Americans as commodities were more valuable than insurance or banking or land. No one else was designated three-fifths human in the U.S. Constitution. No other group required legal appropriation to obtain legal rights. No other group had to have anti-lynching laws passed, or the military take them to school, in Little Rock or Montgomery, or wherever.

"So, blacks have been steadily overcoming barriers for nearly 400 years, with varying degrees of break-throughs and overcoming. We've seen the most advancement, frankly, in the arts and in athletics, and now in politics.

"But while we have achieved against these odds, we remain number one in poverty, infant mortality, home foreclosures. We lack access to quality education, health care, technology, capital and credit. The national unemployment rate for white males is 9.5 percent, for black males, 19 percent. Of the 2.3 million Americans in prison, about 1.1 million are black, 500,000 are Latinos. So one sees evidence that patterns of institutional discrimination persist, that race remains a critical factor in the fabric of our nation's culture.

"Black History Month is more relevant now than ever before. Black history is the journey that made it possible for Barack Obama. He is the result of our struggles."

You have to fumble to historical record to make the claim:

something happened back here in Selma, Alabama. Something happened in Birmingham that sent out what Bobby Kennedy called, “Ripples of hope all around the world.” Something happened when a bunch of women decided they were going to walk instead of ride the bus after a long day of doing somebody else's laundry, looking after somebody else's children. When men who had PhD’s decided that's enough and we’re going to stand up for our dignity. That sent a shout across oceans so that my grandfather began to imagine something different for his son. His son, who grew up herding goats in a small village in Africa could suddenly set his sights a little higher and believe that maybe a black man in this world had a chance.
What happened in Selma, Alabama and Birmingham also stirred the conscience of the nation. It worried folks in the White House who said, “You know, we're battling Communism. How are we going to win hearts and minds all across the world? If right here in our own country, John, we're not observing the ideals set fort in our Constitution, we might be accused of being hypocrites.” So the Kennedy’s decided we're going to do an air lift. We're going to go to Africa and start bringing young Africans over to this country and give them scholarships to study so they can learn what a wonderful country America is.
This young man named Barack Obama got one of those tickets and came over to this country. He met this woman whose great great-great-great-grandfather had owned slaves; but she had a good idea there was some craziness going on because they looked at each other and they decided that we know that the world as it has been it might not be possible for us to get together and have a child. There was something stirring across the country because of what happened in Selma, Alabama, because some folks are willing to march across a bridge. So they got together and Barack Obama Jr. was born. So don't tell me I don't have a claim on Selma, Alabama. Don't tell me I’m not coming home to Selma, Alabama.
I’m here because somebody marched. I’m here because you all sacrificed for me. I stand on the shoulders of giants. I thank the Moses generation; but we've got to remember, now, that Joshua still had a job to do. As great as Moses was, despite all that he did, leading a people out of bondage, he didn't cross over the river to see the Promised Land. God told him your job is done. You'll see it. You'll be at the mountain top and you can see what I’ve promised. What I’ve promised to Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. You will see that I’ve fulfilled that promise but you won't go there.

- Barack Obama - March 2007

Timeline:

1960 (President is Ike, VP Richard Nixon runs against Senator John Kennedy for the presidency)

Ann Dunham is 18. Her family moves to Honolulu, Hawaii. Ann begins classes at the University of Hawaii.

- She meets Barack Obama Sr. in a Russian-language class. Barack Obama Sr. is a foreign student from Kenya, who has a magnetic personality. Barack Obama Sr. is very opinionated, talkative and passionate. The two start dating.

- Ann tells her parents about her African boyfriend and they invite him for dinner.

February 2, 1961: Ann Dunham and Barack Obama Sr. get married in Maui in a discreet ceremony. Nobody is invited. At the time of the wedding Ann is already three months pregnant with Barack Obama Jr.

August 4, 1961: Barack Obama Jr. is born. Ann is eighteen. She drops out of college after one semester in the University of Hawaii.

1964

Ann files for divorce from Barack Obama Sr. and he signs the papers.

The Selma to Montgomery marches were three marches in 1965 that marked the political and emotional peak of the American Civil Rights Movement.

They were the culmination of the voting rights movement in Selma, Alabama, launched by Amelia Boynton and her husband. Boynton brought many prominent leaders of the American Civil Rights Movement to Selma, including James Bevel, who initiated and organized the march; Martin Luther King, Jr.; and Hosea Williams.

The first march took place on March 7, 1965 — "Bloody Sunday" — when 600 civil rights marchers were attacked by state and local police with billy clubs and tear gas. The second march took place on March 9. Only the third march, which began on March 21 and lasted five days, made it to Montgomery, 54 miles (87 km) away.

---- Mr. Obama, YOU LIE.

"Black History Month is more relevant now than ever before. Black history is the journey that made it possible for Barack Obama. He is the result of our struggles." What a complete, poverty pimp, hypocrite this Jackson is...

Right before obama was elected Jackson got caught on a open mike saying someone should "cut his nuts off".

He also made public statements to the effect that because obama came from Kenya, he did not have any "slave blood" in him...(I went to the Red Cross page, and could not verify "slave blood" as an official blood type, so, I dunno.).

Now, if the dipstick that's in the White House now is the ultimate example of the struggles of Africans, then they were sure bought off cheap. Hell, obama is half-white...or didn't anyone tell Jesse that?

The kenyan has virtually undone all of the progress made in race relations in the pasts 40 years, and continues to make it worse everyday. If obama is what the blacks meant by "We Will Overcome", then I pity them.

Jesse has been made more or less irrelevant by the spectacle of obama and he doesn't like it. He's pouting like algore did after he lost in 2000. Jackson claims to have marched with MLK and has always seen himself as the natural successor to MLK...but it didn't pan out that way.

I can't believe that blacks are going to join with him in claiming that obama is the ultimate culminator of their struggles...if so, they were bought off cheap.

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