heartwarming tale Jesse Jackson candidacy
But Jackson saw that with the campaign’s challenge came big crowds and a coalition beginning to form between family farmers struggling in the shadow of the corporate farm and urban workers losing out to corporate trade policies. “I didn’t have to change to get the white voters,” Jackson said. “White people had to hear what I had to say.”
Jackson won several states during that campaign and even more in ’88, when he captured nearly 7 million votes and 11 states and had the party’s white establishment panicked that he could potentially be the nominee.
On the trail, Jackson could feel the conventions of race that had defined American politics tearing. He recalled falling asleep in a car in Columbia, Missouri, and waking up to find himself surrounded by white men wearing sacks over their heads. They were farmers who supported him but couldn’t publicly show it. Leaving a high school, he was greeted by two farmers in overalls with their grandchildren. “We really heard you tonight,” he said they told him. “We’re not quite there yet, but don’t give up on us.”
And again, in Missouri, another interaction stuck with him.
“I was with you in Selma,” a man told him. “I’m glad to see you again.”
But there was a catch.
“I was in Selma at that time with the Klan,” the man explained, “but I understand better now. I’m with you.”
The man went on to volunteer with the campaign, Jackson said.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/jesse-jackson-barack-obama-president_us_5738a9f6e4b060aa781a8fdb
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