Dear Jesse Jackson, by Mychal Massie

I read with interest your September 12, 2006, article “Goodwill, Unity, Money Have Been Squandered Since Sept. 11,” which appeared in the Chicago Sun-Times. While I don’t object to your poisonous screed directed at President Bush as such, I do object to your hypocrisy and irreverence.

You purport to be a minister, reverend and so-called man of God. But a minister is a servant, and a reverend is a member of the clergy, obedient to the God he serves. If there is a god of chaos, deceit, lies, infidelity, dysfunction, greed and resentment, then you serve him well. Apart from this, I believe you are the antithesis of everything that remotely can be identified as a Biblical servant of the true “Living God.”

But I get ahead of myself.

You wrote that our military is “stranded… [in Iraq] with inadequate training and inadequate direction.” On what did you base that premise, branding the finest all-volunteer military in the history of civilization as poorly trained and inept? Or was your statement solely designed to gain political points?

You spoke of “catastrophic climate change, global pandemics and unsustainable trade deficits.” You never mention, however, the catastrophic zeitgeist that has wreaked havoc and “more economic damage” upon the community you self-servingly claim to represent. What about “pandemic” levels of black-on-black crime, black abortion rates, black single-parent homes and black criminal behavior, all of which threaten our future survival?

You wrote that the President, “instead of asking Americans to sacrifice to meet the challenge [of 9/11]… called on them, literally, to go shopping.” You condescendingly wrote, “He allowed business as usual to go on in Washington.” How much more could Americans have sacrificed than watching their innocent family members and fellow citizens perish? Perhaps Americans could have given more pints of blood or more supplies to charity groups that were immediately besieged with donations. Maybe you reasoned that ordinary people performing extraordinary acts of volunteerism and acts of mercy were not sacrificing enough. Or were you suggesting that President Bush should have ordered everyone to hide under his kitchen table and quake in fear?

What part of the American spirit do you perceive wasn’t grieving after those attacks? What would you have done differently? How would you have displayed leadership?

You derided the very intelligence tools that have prevented terrorist attacks on our soil since 9/11. You erroneously labeled domestic eavesdropping “warrantless wiretapping,” failing to mention that it prevented Lyman Farris from blowing up the Brooklyn Bridge, was instrumental in protecting the Sears Towers, and was key in uncovering the British-based suicide bombers’ plan to blow up ten international passenger planes.

You blame President Bush for bringing “discredit to the nation across the world.” My question to you is, who brought discredit on the nation in 1979 when we had a president who betrayed a trusted ally and was unable to free Americans held hostage? Is President Bush to blame for the 1993 World Trade Tower bombings?

You referred to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld as “ugly and dishonest.” But isn’t that a more appropriate description of you, the man who allegedly rubbed the blood of a fallen hero on your clothing and then lied, claiming he died in your arms?

You claim the President’s credibility is gone, when in truth it is you who has no credibility. President Bush is fulfilling the role of his office. But as a minister, can the same be said of you? Are you fulfilling God’s prescripts for the priestly office you claim to hold? How many people have you personally led to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ? To how many people have you preached the message of salvation?

What have you done to bring glory and honor to the name of Christ? Is that what you were doing as you paraded your pregnant mistress around the White House while supposedly ministering to a president taken with sexual sin of his own?

“Goodwill, unity, money” have indeed been squandered, but not since 9/11. They have been squandered on you and your morally depraved kind. You claim a title that should offer “hope,” but instead you offer fool’s parsley.

My prayer for you would be, and is, that you would confess the error of your ways while there is yet time, because the “Living God” takes a dim view of those who intentionally lead his children astray.

Sincerely,

Mychal S. Massie

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Mychal Massie is chairman of the National Advisory Council of the black leadership network Project 21 and a syndicated radio host and columnist. Comments may be sent to [email protected].

Published by The National Center for Public Policy Research. Reprints permitted provided source is credited. New Visions Commentaries reflect the views of their author, and not necessarily those of Project 21 or the National Center for Public Policy Research.



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