I could not attend. Neither did I get invited. I also did not request for press accreditation. On my schedule, there was already an unavoidable conflict.
But I would have loved to have attended the memorial service of the Very Reverend Jesse Louis Jackson Sr.
Held Friday, March 6 in South Side Chicago at the House of Hope church, the event was attended by three former US presidents - Bill Clinton, Barack Obama and Joe Biden.
Also in attendance was former Vice President, Kamala Harris.
They all spoke.
Africa was ably represented at the event by two sitting presidents - Cyril Ramaphosa (South Africa) and Felix Tshisekedi of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
I also learned there was a good representation from the continent from various countries including Nigeria whose current president, Bola Ahmed Tinubu was once upon a time a Chicagoan.
Rev. Jesse Jackson has a history with Africa.
From the apartheid days in South Africa to the troubled era of Sani Abacha’s regime in Nigeria, Rev. Jackson was front and center.
And as Clinton’s special envoy to Africa, he crisscrossed the continent several times, made friends and established strategic alliances for the United States.
However, his most dominant role in the continent was recorded during his series of vociferous campaigns in support of South Africa’s Black population during apartheid.
Along with so many other African Americans, Jesse staged incessant protests at the South African embassy in DC during apartheid. And he got arrested several times and was in and out jail for the South African cause.
By the way, I was able to watch the Chicago funeral service on television - from the somber eulogy of President Biden to the fiery oration of Rev. Al Sharpton, one of Jesse Jackson’s surviving protégés.
Arguably, the best tribute by my own assessment was given by the Reverend’s scion, US congressman, Jonathan Jackson. The best I have heard from him. And I have heard him a few times.
Between a voice laced with a tinge of grief and a heart filled with familial pride, he evoked the unmistakable Jacksonian oratory fire.
The way he waltzed his way with piercing words throughout the speech was exceedingly remarkable.
He ended his speech with a refrain that I am sure will continually ring in the ears of the hearts of most of America: “Rise! Rise Jesse! Rise!”, he crowed.
And before the end of his speech, almost everyone in the audience was on their feet as he exited the podium in the midst of a huge ovation.
Having had the privilege of meeting and interviewing a good number of the vanguards in the civil rights movement in the 80’s, I was gripped by a sense of nostalgia as I watched Rev. Jackson’s coffin draped in colorful flowers.
I could remember like it was yesterday how the civil rights initiatives of his generation made us feel as new immigrant arrivals in America. Their passion for the motherland - Africa - was genuine.
Before then was the era of the dashikis. And most African Americans wore their traditional African clothes with pride.
To that generation, Africa was hallowed. Sacred.
Many took African names. And helped destroy the African stereotypes and myths in the American mindset.
I remember also leading at different times groups of African American tourists and business people on pilgrimages and business trips to the continent.
The anticipation and excitement on their faces were always palpable.
On arriving anywhere in Africa - Senegal, Gambia, Tanzania, Ghana, South Africa; you name it - and they were in absolute awe.
I vividly recall a dozen of my African American compatriots and friends who relocated to the continent and swore never to return to live in the United States. Only for visits.
Within America, that was the period of a cultural awakening. Between these new arrivals from Africa and the African Americans, relationships were forged, friendships were made and marriages were consummated.
Literally springing up in most US metros were several Africa-themed festivals and soirées.
However, the fervor for Africa was to take a detour - a slip up- especially for the new generation of African Americans, and new African arrivals, beginning in the first quarter of the 2000’s.
During this period, we noticed a surge of interest in Africa more among the Caucasian demography.
In Hollywood and the overall entertainment industry, the same trend was observed. It was as if the Mandela mystique had waned.
With the present global upheaval, especially within and around the United States, there is no better time than now to reset the tempo in this vital relationship between Africa and the African American Diaspora.
I must admit that I was immensely impressed with the speech of South African President, Cyril Ramaphosa at Jesse Jackson’s memorial service in Chicago last Friday. He hit all the right notes.
He told the Jackson family and the larger African American people that he flew nine hours from Johannesburg to Chicago purposely to express his country’s gratitude to the Jackson family and the larger Black community in the United States for what the good reverend and Black America as a whole did and sacrificed during their support for Black South Africans in the dark days of apartheid.
“We as the people of South Africa”, President Ramaphosa said “are here to say thank you.
“The African National Congress, the organization which I lead with which Jesse Jackson worked closely also say thank you.
“We are not only here in mourning but in gratitude, a deep abiding and unpayable gratitude.
“You gave us your husband, your father, your patriarch.
“You shared him across an ocean, and across the continent, across marches, across prison gates, and inauguration days.
“When South Africa needed a friend in the corridors of power, you allowed Jesse Jackson to be that friend”.
That was the moment I had an epiphany. About the need for a realignment between Africa and the African American Diaspora.
In these times of growing extreme nationalism all over the world, we have to come to terms with the reality of our collective existence as Black peoples - that our survival and fortunes are inextricably linked.
That’s a fact we know but chose to ignore.
Fact is: Africa needs her Diaspora. And her Diaspora needs her mother:
Africa.