06 Aug 2003 Jesse Jackson: Secretly Shy?

Posted at 23:20h in Blog by

In this July 5 Orlando Sentinel story by Sandra Pedicini, one of Jesse Jackson’s groups, Rainbow Sports, says it can’t sponsor black race car driver Herbie Bagewell, Jr. or another black NASCAR driver because it “does not sponsor athletes.”

Why not? Aside from possible embarassment to the driver, what’s wrong with a car from going around the track with “Rainbow/PUSH” painted on it? Rainbow/PUSH took $250,000 in gifts from NASCAR and nothing about Jesse Jackson’s career so far suggests that he is shy about advertising.

Still, Charles Farrell of Rainbow Sports told the Sentinel the group “could try to find Bagwell a sponsor.” We hope Farrell meant it. Maybe Jackson does intend to leverage the quarter-million into substantial sponsorships — say, more than a quarter-million worth — for black race car drivers. If he does, we’d applaud his action. We’ll stay tuned



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