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Jesse
Jackson and the Cycle of Fatherlessness
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By David M. Wallace
CNSNews.com Commentary
February 06, 2002
The Rev. Jesse L. Jackson failed to break the cycle of
fatherlessness.
The birth of his out-of-wedlock daughter in May 1999,
shattered Rev. Jesse Jackson's
moral underpinnings. The leader of the Chicago-based
Rainbow/PUSH Coalition, Jackson claimed America's moral mantle
following the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in
1968.
Karin Stanford, the child's mother, headed the Rainbow/PUSH
Coalition's Washington, DC office, during their adulterous
affair. The 39-year-old pregnant woman accompanied Rev.
Jackson to meet with President Bill Clinton in the White House
in December 1998, five months before the child was born.
The Jackson-Stanford extramarital birth of their baby took
place at the time Rev. Jackson served as spiritual advisor to
President Clinton and his family. His counsel assisted the
First Family as they worked through the President's scandal
with Monica Lewinsky.
Breaking this news with an exclusive cover story, The
National Enquirer (January 30, 2001) had photos of Jackson
with Stanford and two other Rainbow/PUSH Coalition staff with
President Clinton. The photo headline stated, "He even
took pregnant mistress to meet Bill in the Oval Office."
A frequent voice calling for breaking cycles of violence in
areas of conflict, Rev. Jackson contributed to the despair
surrounding children born without fathers in their homes.
"Fatherlessness" is recognized as an
"...epidemic sweeping America," said Celeste Ryan in
her article "What About The Children?" published in Message
Magazine , September/October, 2001. She said this problem
is "...colorblind but not odorless. It's been deemed
silent, but deadly."
Ryan, director of media relations for the Seventh-day
Adventist Church in North America, pointed out: "In 1998,
the United States Census Bureau reported that 24.7 million
children in America live in homes without fathers. Each year,
one million children are born to unwed parents while another
one million are newly affected by divorce."
"The latest statistics indicate that over 70 percent of
African American children in the United States are born to
single mothers, as are 38 percent of Hispanic children, and 22
per cent of Caucasians," said Mrs. Frances Ballard,
president of the Institute for Responsible Fatherhood and
Family Revitalization." Mrs. Ballard was a primary source
for Ryan.
Mrs. Ballad's husband, Charles, founded the 20-year-old
nonprofit organization in the nation's capitol. He told Ryan:
"Fatherlessness doesn't mean fatherless. Fatherlessness
is a condition of violence, neglect, and abandonment that is
created in the absence of a loving, compassionate, secure, and
nurturing father."
Raising a child without a father has a far-reaching, but not
discriminating, effect upon society, reported Ms. Ryan.
"According to a Fortune Magazine article published
in August, 1993, the most reliable predictor of crime is
neither poverty nor race, but growing up fatherless," she
said.
A recent study conducted by Men Against Domestic Violence
described, according to Ryan, children from fatherless homes
are:
* 5 times more likely to commit suicide
* 9 times more likely to drop out of high school
* 10 times more likely to abuse chemical substances
* 20 times more likely to have behavioral disorders
* 32 times more likely to run away
The January 2001 expose' was not news to Rev. Jackson's
family. His wife, Jackie, learned of the affair during
Stanford's pregnancy.
Mrs. Jackson, who married Rev. Jackson in 1962, engaged
Stanford in a fiery confrontation at the Rainbow/PUSH
Coalition office in Washington, DC.
According to The National Enquirer story, Stanford
quickly took maternity leave from her job, then relocated from
Washington, DC to Los Angeles to give birth and to live.
Mrs. Jackie Jackson raised five children with Rev. Jackson.
She and her family knew about the out-of-wedlock child and the
extramarital affair last year before Rev. Jackson and Ms.
Stanford were exposed in the tabloid newspaper.
"Fathers play a key role in the life of children and the
success of families," Ryan reported.
"A father's job is to bring discipline and order into the
home," Ryan quoted Mrs. Ballard. "He is to be the
provider, the sustainer, the nurturer. He is to love and
respect the mother and wife and model maleness and family
leadership for his children," Mrs. Ballard concluded.
Rev. Jackson, now 60 years old, was born out-of-wedlock in
Greenville, SC. Like his own father, Rev. Jackson's behavior
made himself no more than a permanent visitor in his youngest
daughter's home.
In the wake of the revealed story, he and Stanford were locked
in a court battle last year regarding child support
arrangements. This contest generated additional stories in
various news outlets across the United States.
The expose', the shattering of his 40 year marriage, and the
seriously strained relations with Stanford placed
extraordinary stress upon Jackson, his wife and family, as
well as the mother and the child regarding her future.
Unintended consequences included knocking Jackson out of
considering a third Democratic Party bid for the White House
in 2000. His marriage was torn apart. His successful children
with their professional careers were challenged. They have
given him grand children who are contemporary with his love
child. He has embarrassed his friends, supporters, and
Christian congregations across the land.
Karin Stanford is a well-educated woman with a Ph.D. She was a
professor at the University of Georgia before accepting an
invitation to join Jackson's organization. She is presently
living as a single mother in Los Angeles. Her last reported
employment was as a $10,000 per month consultant to Yucaipa
Cos., owned by Rev. Jackson's friend, Ron Burkle.
Rev. Jackson and Dr. Stanford have a child who lives in a home
without a father in her daily life. She is not economically
disadvantaged. She should not be educationally challenged.
However, she is emotionally and spiritually deprived of a full
time father.
Rev. Jackson's long span of leadership missed the recent
"Fatherhood Movement." These are people seeking to
break the cycle.
Charles Ballad stated to Celeste Ryan: "We must begin to
understand that fatherhood is more than child support, more
than a class in parenting, more than getting a job, a nice
home, or even getting married."
"If we want to break the cycle, we've got to clean up
this mess. That means we've got to start by finding and
transforming our fathers, because responsible fatherhood is
the foundation for any healthy community," Mr. Ballard
concluded.
Rev. Jackson has a dilemma. How does he provide responsible
fatherhood for his daughter, now going on three years old?
David Wallace worked with Jesse Jackson on Dr. Martin
Luther King's staff in the 1960s and helped launch Jackson's
Operation PUSH. Copyright 2002, David M. Wallace. |
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