Black Politics: Was The Taping of Jesse Jackson's Comments Intentional

Like everyone else I was taken aback by the comments made by Rev. Jackson about wanting to, well in essence, castrate Senator Obama. Making comments about emasculating Black men isn’t something our community appreciates even if another Black man says it. But Rev. Jackson apologized to the point of stopping short of offering his own “nads” up as a peace offering and Senator Obama graciously accepted his apology. What I was wondering is was the taping really an accident?

Most of us know this isn’t Rev. Jackson’s first slip of the tongue. We have had to opportunity to sit back and watch his Presidential bid crash and burn when he made his famous Himey town comment. He is human, and he also comes from an era where every little thing that was said anywhere didn’t have the potential to be taped. He should also know that in this day and age there is always the possibility that someone is listening. I listened to the whispered conversation clip on the news and without subtitles I really wouldn’t have known what he said. I have a hard time understanding Jesse when he speaks normally but I’m going to assume that they quoted him correctly because he didn’t deny that he said it. Rev. Jackson should be savvy enough by now to know that there is always a possibility that the microphone is on. Here is where my conspiracy theory question comes in, was the microphone really supposed to be off?

Rev Jackson was being interviewed by Fox News, can you say "red flag"? Fox News is known for not agreeing with most of the Black Leaders in our community unless they are saying something bad about us. Why would I think that they would waste an opportunity to try to catch anything they could by just ….accidentally…..on purpose….having the mic on, knowing that Rev. Jackson is known for making what he thinks are “private” comments. Who is the first one to jump on this story? Why it is our ole buddy Bill O’Reilly, need I say more? Although Bill is more into “Lynching Parties” I’m sure a little Black male castration would be right in line with his Slave Master mentality. This would be the same Bill on the same network that ran a story last September that reported that Rev Jackson said that Senator Obama was “acting like he’s white” when referring to how Senator Obama was responding to the Jena 6 case. But you want me to think that this network, which employs three of the most intentionally ignorant men in media wouldn’t pull a stunt just to embarrass a prominent Black leader? Oh really? Yeah, well I would also like to buy some of the land in Costa Rica that was for sale in the email I got the other day.

This just gives opponents of black people more reason to talk about things they have no intention of learning about and to discredit our leaders, thus causing tension in our community. You'll notice that they now want to have a discussion about the differences we have within our community with each other and our philosophies, but no one wanted to spend a second understanding why the majority of African Americans agreed with much of what Rev Jeremiah Wright said. Let’s not have a conversation about why so many of us listen to and respect Father Michael Flager. Fox and their “Three Stooges”, just denounce anyone who criticizes America and points out racism as being bad, without trying to understand the history and the experiences behind the statements.


So although I think Rev Jackson should have been smart enough to learn from experience and keep him mouth closed, especially in a FOX studio, I don’t think it was his fault entirely. I think it is obvious by the people the network employees that they are willing to play dirty. I fully believe that they left Rev. Jackson’s microphone on purpose and they got what they wanted. Congrats to Rev Jackson for once again opening mouth and inserting foot and thank you FOX for probably setting him up with the opportunity to do it. You have once again proven to me what a classy organization you really are. Can we get on with the real issues now?