Jesse Jackson's Liberia visit
Jesse Jackson's Liberia visit took place in the late autumn of 1972 and was an official visit by American civil rights activist Jesse Jackson to the West African Republic of Liberia . Since Jackson had no special diplomatic or political mandate at that time, he appeared as chairman of the Afro-American civil rights movement People United to Save Humanity (Operation PUSH), which he founded in the United States .
prehistory
The increasing successes of the civil rights movement in the USA had also been followed with great interest in Liberia in the 1960s. Almost every Ameriko-Liberian at the time had relatives living in the United States who showed solidarity with the ideas of Martin Luther King and other civil rights activists. It was therefore a great shock when King was killed in a politically motivated assassination attempt on April 4, 1968 in Memphis .
The Baptist pastor Jesse Jackson, born in South Carolina in 1941, was counted among the political successors of King and new hope for the Afro-American civil rights movement . But in 1971 he fell out with Ralph Abernathy , King's successor as president of the African-American civil rights movement Southern Christian Leadership Conference, and founded his own organization with Operation PUSH.
occasion
The trip of the then 31-year-old Jesse Jackson to Liberia served to participate in a symposium at the University of Liberia in Monrovia . In the struggle for King's successor, Jackson also used this trip domestically, he was able to send a clear signal to the African-American population in the USA that Jackson was also interested in African issues and problems, and that this should give him further credit among the US Democrats procure. He also wanted to gain experience in foreign policy, for which he carefully selected Liberia, because the country was uncritical, through its history a close ally of the USA and had always behaved loyally.
The Liberian people also had great expectations of Jesse Jackson. It was hoped he would crack down on the ruling True Whig Party , urging human rights and political reform. These were expectations that Jackson, of course, could not respond to with clear words. In fact, there were some Liberian press reports in the run-up to branding Jackson as a leftist politician.
The Liberian government behaved more diplomatically and discussed with Jackson the currently explosive issue of dual citizenship for Liberians in order to achieve advantages for the American-Liberian population. This subject was also a feature of Jackson's speeches at the University of Liberia.
From a diplomatic point of view, Jesse Jackson's visit to Liberia was thus a private trip; in fact, the press photos of this trip always show Jackson in as unconventional clothing as possible, while all the Americans and Liberians accompanying him wear suits and / or state robes.
Jackson's visit has been described in the American media as a visit so as not to ascribe greater importance to the trip.
In Liberia, Jackson was greeted warmly and with great expectations. He was given the opportunity to speak to President William R. Tolbert and made four speeches on Liberian radio and state television. Jackson also visited American facilities in Liberia - for example the Firestone Plantation .
Remarks
- In 1973, the Republican US President Richard Nixon , who had already been politically troubled by the Watergate affair, made a state visit to Monrovia.
- The later Liberian President Charles Taylor met Jesse Jackson several times during his stay in the USA.
Individual evidence
- ^ Brief History. (No longer available online.) In: RAINBOWPUSH.ORG (website of the civil rights organization founded by Jesse Jackson). Archived from the original on February 8, 2011 ; Retrieved December 10, 2010 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (English)
- ^ Charles L. Sanders: Rev. Jesse Jackson visits Liberia to discuss dual citizenship plan . In: JET (ebony) . tape 43/11 . Johnson Publishing Company, 1972, ISSN 0021-5996 , pp. 12–15 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
- ↑ Denise Springs: (Letter to the Editor) Likes Jackson-Tolbert story . In: JET (ebony) . tape 43/12 , 1972, ISSN 0021-5996 , pp. 4 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
