Friday 7 March 2014

30 years ago: Jesse Jackson and "Hymietown"

On February 26, 1984, Rev. Jesse Jackson, veteran civil rights activist and a candidate for the Democratic Party nomination for President of the United States in the November 1984 election, apologized to Jewish voters for having referred earlier to Jews as "Hymies" and to New York City as "Hymietown." Rev. Jackson's had initially denied uttering the slurs, but recordings of his comments made further denial impossible.

The main thing I remember about the incident was the lack of major outrage expressed by the liberal mainstream media in the United States. It's amazing what one can get away with if one is a member of a politically correct racial minority, and a political and theological liberal. I imagine the reaction from the American political, media, and religious establishment would have been somewhat different if anti-Jewish slurs had been uttered by, say, Pat Robertson or Jerry Falwell.

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