The Reverend, T.O., and Civil Rights
Civil rights are clearly an important issue. But unfortunately anytime most Conservatives, including myself, hear the term "civil rights" the first thought that comes to mind is "ughhh, what now?".
This is in large part due to
the likes of people like Jesse Jackson, who have abused civil rights to feed a shameless grievance industry. But Jesse, it seems, isn't satisfied with the damage he has already done to the term "civil rights". He wants to make sure no open minded person can take the issue seriously. At least that's the only conclusion I can draw from his recent defense of Terrell Owens against the Eagle's organization.
Granted, the Reverend never accuses anyone of racism in this press release. But let's face it, the fact that this is an official press release of the Rainbow Coalition makes it clear to the Eagles' organization that the ugly bugabear of race is just waiting to come out. And more importantly it is clear to the American public that the leader of the civil rights movement views this as an issue with civil rights implications.
My guess is that Jesse won't push the issue much farther (particularly if the Eagles decide to make a donation to the Rainbow Coalition), but nevertheless, the damage has already been done. The more people begin to associate civil rights with things like protecting spoiled misbehaving NFL stars, the more quick they will be to dismiss it as an irrelevent and unimportant issue.