Jesse Jackson

Jesse Jackson, "Who Makes the Clothes We Wear"

Jesse Jackson (1941- ) was born in Greenville, South Carolina, earned a B.A. from the North Carolina Agricultural and Technical College, and studied at the Chicago Theological Seminary. He earned a Master of Divinity Degree in 2000. Jackson worked with Martin Luther King Jr. for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, and was national director of its Operation Breadbasket program. He went on to found and lead PUSH (People United to Serve Humanity) and the Rainbow Coalition, a national social justice organization. Those two social organizations merged in 1996. He also ran for U.S. President twice, in 1984 and 1988. Jackson's books include Straight From the Heart (1987), Keep Hope Alive (1989), and Legal Lynching: Racism, Injustice, and the Death Penalty (1996), which he co-authored with his son. He also contributes to periodicals such as the Journal of Housing and Community Development, Newsweek, and USAToday. "Who Makes the Clothes We Wear?" takes a look at some of the terrible conditions some garment workers face. It was first published in 1995 in the Chicago Tribune.

CONTENT

1. Describe a working day in El Salvador as recounted by the author.
2. List the countries named in the first three paragraphs. What do these countries have in common?
3. About how much did Nike pay for product endorsements to athletes and teams at the time of this writing?
4. Why do you think the author describes working conditions in California?
5. In what ways is the author critical of the Republican Party?
6. What is the relationship of globalization to the workplace abuses Jackson recounts?

STRATEGY AND STYLE

1. Jackson links the first three paragraphs by repeating the words Wouldyou. How do the paragraphs build? How effective do you find this rhetorical technique?
2. Find a metaphor in paragraph six in which the author compares a time bomb to something else. What's the whole comparison and what image does it evoke? How can you tie this imagery into Jackson's ideas about this labor struggle?
3. Take a look at the examples the author provides in paragraph eleven. How persuasive do you find them? How do they build upon information he provides earlier in the essay?
4. How can you see this piece as a call to action? What is Jackson calling upon people to do? Which people? How?

1. Imagine you're in a Gap store, looking for a pair of pants. (Feel free to change the store if you like.) What's the number one thing you're concerned about when you're searching? Explain, in light of what you've learned in this essay.
2. Where do you position yourself in regard to the slogan: "Think globally, act locally"? How might have this position affected your relationship with this piece?

SUGGESTIONS FOR SUSTAINED WRITING

1. Should businesses always seek out the cheapest means to produce the things they want to sell? Explain, in light of your reading and your own observations, detailing the limitations on business approaches in this regard and whose duty it is to enforce such approaches.
2. Think of a job you've held in order to come up with the three most important things you'd like to see in a "Workers' Bill of Rights." Write an essay that clearly delineates your concerns and hopes in such a matter.

FOR FURTHER RESEARCH

Pick one of the celebrity endorsement scandals that has been a news item over the past few years. (If you don't recall one, do some research to find out about one.) Then, answer these questions: What celebrity, company, and products were involved? In what country were the products made? Under what conditions? What action did the celebrity and company take? To what effect?

WEB CONNECTION

If you'd like to put Jackson's work into a historical context, you will want to know something about the Civil Rights Movement in the U.S. To get you started here's a good general page about the Civil Rights Movement from The Encyclopedia Britannica.

LINKS

Biographical

Here's a fairly comprehensive biography of Jackson with some links from TeacherVision.com.

The PBS program Frontline prepared this Jesse Jackson chronology for their study, The Pilgrimage of Jesse Jackson.

Bibliographical

Ready for some of Jackson's work in etext? Here's a link with a listing of his most recent commentaries on a wide variety of subjects.

In the mood for a speech? Here's one Jackson gave in 1996 before the Democratic National Convention in Chicago. You'll also find a photo and related links there.

Cultural

This is the homepage of the Rainbow/Push Coalition, an organization Jackson has had a close relationship with for years.

Here's a letter from the executive director of the Physicians for Human Rights sent to Jackson, expressing his concerns about civil rights abuses in Sierra Leone.

Take a look at this editorial cartoon about Jackson from The Atlantic. The title of the page is "The Irrepressible Jesse Jackson." Now that you know more about the man, is this a fair portrayal?