Memories of Jesse Jackson

  By Reginald Johnson 

              Sad to see Jesse Jackson leave the stage. He was a great man who constantly worked for a fairer, more progressive society. He moved the needle.

              I was fortunate enough to see Jackson twice in person. The first time was in the spring of 1984, when he was campaigning for president. He came to a rally at the low-income project, Beardsley Terrace, now known as Trumbull Gardens, in Bridgeport. There was a huge crowd that had gathered to hear him. He urged the many young people in attendance to keep working for their education, never lose hope and always believe in themselves.

      Then he led the crowd in a chant: "I Am --- Somebody!"  "I Am Somebody!" "I Am --- Somebody!"

      It was electrifying.

     Years went by, and it was 1991--- after the Democrats had foolishly turned him away from gaining the nomination to run for president --- and Jackson was still on the move.  Now he had started a new campaign called a "March to Rebuild America" and he came to Connecticut, home of some very poor cities like Bridgeport and other communities of great affluence. Jackson spoke out against the wealth disparites and said it was not sustainable.

  The march wound through a number of towns and cities, including Bridgeport and Hartford. Before coming to Bridgeport, he stopped for a rally in Milford, an event organized by my good friend Glenn Davis. Although the mostly white town of Milford had been accused by some of being less than friendly to minorities, Jackson got a very warm reception. People were lined up all along Route 1 as the march wound its way to Stratford.

  I was standing on the edge of the Devon Bridge and I'll never forget seeing Jackson walking towards the bridge with the other marchers, while people along the route clapped and cheered.

  Later Jackson walked through the heart of Bridgeport --- a once powerful industrial city that had fallen into bankruptcy. He marched up East Main Street, and somewhere I have a great photo taken by the Post of Jackson walking alongside the longtime activist and Puerto Rican community leader, Willie Matos.

  No doubt, Jesse Jackson was a wonderful person who made a difference. We need more people like him.

   May he rest in peace.

'This could go nuclear'

 

     By Reginald Johnson

         Although there's still hope for a diplomatic solution to settle the dispute between the United States and Iran, chances remain high that the US and Israel will attack the Middle Eastern country.

    And should war break out with Iran, a global conflict involving the major powers could be triggered, and the possibility that nuclear weapons will be used is not out of the question.

   That's the view of one the most prominent US foreign policy critics, Prof. Jeffrey Sachs.

    Speaking on the Danny Haiphong podcast recently, Sachs said:  "No war is inevitable, but this war is likely. It's championed by Israel, and Israel is running American foreign policy in the Middle East."

   Sachs added that US President Donald Trump is a "puppet" of Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu, who, he said, "has wanted a US attack on Iran for 30 years." 

  The former advisor to the UN Secretary-General and now teacher at Columbia made his remarks as tensions build between Washington and Tehran, with Trump demanding that Iran end its nuclear development program and threatening to use military force against Iran if it refuses to do so. Talks are ongoing between the two nations, but there's skepticism about whether the negotiations are going anywhere.

Sachs said the situation vis a vis Iran is "fraught with danger."

Unlike other countries like Venezuela, Syria or Somalia that US has been able to attack with little or no  pushback, Iran would be a much more formidable opponent. Iran is a much larger country with a strong ballistic missile system; it has a nuclear energy program which could be retooled to build a nuclear bomb, if leaders chose to do that; and it has major powers for allies, in Russia and China, both nuclear-armed.

  "Iran is not isolated in this and their friends are many, and some are nuclear-armed. This is just the kind of thing that can absolutely lead to a disastrous cycle of escalation." Sachs said.

  "This could go nuclear," he said. 

Sachs said it was critical at this point for the leaders of other large countries that have a stake in the Middle East, such as Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Russia and China, to get involved and "explain to Mr. Trump, 'Don't do this.' "

  " And whether that is enough remains to be seen," he said.