Jessie Jackson and Al Sharpton

[slang]

As many of you know, I have been critical of both of these men in the past. Recently I have seen a change in the way they are dealing with the press and TV. The "new and improved" black leaders are much easier to listen to and I was very impressed when I heard what they were saying.

Al was interviewed about a week ago by MSNBC and I saw the clip on the computer. The topic was whether Trent should resign from the Senate or not. What he actually said wasn't as important as how he said it. The old Al would be emotional, sarcastic, and visibly agitated. He would regularly cut people off and throw out ridiculous, far reaching parallels to slavery of long ago. The Al I saw on the clip was calm and deliberate as well as courteous. He still has an accent that is very noticeable as it distracts the listener from his message, but he’s made real improvement (IMO as a country nut that speaks Hillbillian).

Jessie was recently on the Sean Hannity radio program speaking about the same topic. When I heard the promo, I couldn’t believe he even booked time on the show, as he never has before. Here again his presentation of his case was refined and provided a credible interview. The old game of slavery being worked into every sentence and theme seems to have been replaced. That’s good for both of them if they wish to increase their support.

The actual content was obviously from a black perspective and to tell the truth, I’m not real familiar or sympathetic to it. At the same time, the new refined presentation of their issues at least allows me to listen without sharpening knives. I still don’t agree with many of their opinions and I think Jessie needs to be audited by the IRS, like everyone else would had they kept the same lousy accounting records for a “non-profit” org. If he continues to interview in this way, I will certainly listen and give him a fair shake though, as will millions of others.

I believe it was Frederick Douglass that first promoted the idea to “agitate, agitate, agitate” the fuck out of people until they gained attention to the black peoples’ injustices and they were changed. That was in the 1800s, but the leadership seems to have adopted that into the 1900s possibly because that’s the only strategy that’s worked. That outdated method has hopefully run its course and maybe now we can have rational conversations.

Has anyone else noticed a change in the tone of these leaders?