Chris McDonnell: Edmund Pettus Bridge                                                                   

For Jesse Jackson 1941-2026

We have lost a great American.

Our ages span the same year of war,

1941, exactly six months apart.

Significant years of conflict

and political turmoil between

East and West till the Cold War

eased and hope returned.

His words of leadership inspired many

to follow his street-side example,

giving his political voice a moral spine

 as he spoke with certitude.

From Selma, Alabama to Memphis, Tennessee,

he walked in support beside Dr King

and raised his voice for Civil Rights

for all to hear, both Black and White.

Who now follows his well-worn path

of words spoken in defiant certitude

as troubled years gave way to executive

order and whim of self-aggrandisement.

One by one the civil rights leaders slip

Into stillness as the faceless form of Jim Crow

still haunts the land. Who now will proclaim

                                                   “I am somebody”?                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              

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