In fact, Jackson and his friends have no intention of losing this fight. It's not simply that they're determined to rewrite history, or to humiliate the Decatur school board, or to reinvent the Seven as noble oppressed youths, though all those things are true as far as they go. But the underlying agenda here is sharper and more practical. Decatur wasn't the first front in this revolting strategy, and, heaven help us, it won't be the last. Yesterday, flush with confidence, Jackson and Chicago Congressman Bobby Rush led two thousand demonstrators on a march through Decatur.
Timing is everything.
ABC promos blare ominously. I'm confident that Bury will give the white citizens of Decatur every opportunity to avoid being labeled as 'racists' on national television. All they will have to do will be to condemn the board's action against the Seven as unduly harsh, and praise Jackson's intervention as inspiring. But it will be entirely up to them. Anyhow, so much for the relative value of pictures and words.