I have been pleased to see my friend of 40 years, Rev. Jesse Jackson, play an important part in the release of Americans held captive. No way was the Bush administration going to let him embarrass it the way he did President Ronald Reagan and President George Bush when he won the release of the Navy lieutenant from Syria in 1984, 48 political prisoners from Cuba months later and 700 former “human shields” in Iraq in 1990. In 1998, he helped free three U.S. soldiers from Yugoslavia.
Mr. Jackson is indeed a prophet not without honor save in his own country (and especially city).
Clarence Page, in his April 11 column, stated, “He has respect in China and the rest of the underdeveloped world in ways unmatched by any other non-office holder . . . “
For decades he has been the principal leader of people’s causes, black and white and Hispanic. Many thousands have been convinced by him that “I am somebody.”
