Comments by Haywood Jablowmi

An Open Letter To Jesse Jackson

Dear Reverend Jackson, I forgive you for your rash indescretion.  I know the temptation was just too strong, and your flesh was just too weak.  I believe you when you say you're sorry.  Anyone who just lost what you did, would be more than sorry.  Maybe you should keep the suicide hotline number handy.   You literally had it all, didn't you?  Right hand man to Martin Luther King, Jr, HIMSELF!!  Counsel to Presidents and parents, Popes and Militants.

If there was the faintest whiff of controversy, you were there, rousing and inciting, glorying in the glare of your self-induced grandure.  Remember when you defended the muggers at that Football game?  They were just misunderstood, and besides, no one was killed, just brutalized.  And how about all those demonstrations, lawsuits,  and boycotts?  You were the center of a vibrant expanding universe.  You were unique.  A black man in America who enjoyed the best of everything. 

You had respect, however grudging.  Whatever unintelligible gibberish you muttered into the camera made it to the nightly news.  You ran with a pretty fast crowd, as candidate for President twice, Jesse Jackson became a household name.  Little old ladies and teenagers actually believed if anyone could do it, you could.  And they were right.  You did it.  Apparently more than once...was it worth it? 

The rush of power and priviledge was too intoxicating.  You're a handsome man, and no stranger to the advances of amorous admirers.  So you adultered, cheated, lied and conspired.  But I forgive you.  You have admitted your wrongdoings, however belated, however coerced.  You have come clean, and thus begins your rehabilitation. 

You were paying attention when Bill Clinton spit in America's face.  You chided him severely at the time, and held yourself up as a more fitting role model.  That's kinda hard to live down, but hey, Americans especially African-Americans, have short memories when it comes to this sort of thing. 

So you fell in lust with somone besides your wife, and so you just lost everything you had going for you.  So suddenly you don't have a shred of respect.  Suddenly, all your important friends "aren't in right now".  Don't worry, just bide your time, maybe just lay low and let your face rest for awhile.  You'll be back wheeling and dealing yourself into the public's myopic eye before you know it.  I mean hey, look at Clinton, he's not ashamed, and you shouldn't be either.  You simply didn't know any better. 

I guess that's about all I have to say.  Thanks for taking the time to read this.  By the way, the offer still stands if you'd like to write a column.  Oops, I forgot, you're boycotting the internet right now...never mind.

Insincerely,
Haywood

Haywood Jablowmi would like to express his appreciation to Jesse Jackson, Bill Clinton, Big Energy companies and others who give this column its name.