Jul 17, 2008 5:03 pm US/Central
Rev. Jackson's Latest Misstep May Hurt Credibility
CHICAGO (CBS) ―
The Rev. Jesse Jackson is once again under fire for controversial comments, this time involving the N-word. They were made the same night he was caught railing on Barack Obama.
CBS 2's Dorothy Tucker reports despite Jackson's apologies, this time, he may have really damaged his credibility.
"I look at him as a leader. But using the N-word and saying that...that's bad," one man said.
"I don't' think it was anything that bad," another man said. "As men we may use that word in the neighborhood talking to each other and sometimes we don't use it in a negative way."
Monroe Anderson, a political contributor to ebonyjet.com agrees that the N-word is a part of the African-American culture.
"What you have with Jesse and a lot of other people it's something you say without thinking. It's a bad habit. It's common...and it needs to be uncommon," Anderson said.
Jackson has apologized for his slip-up, but it's hard for some to accept in light of his very public campaign to ban the use of the word. It's a movement he started two years ago, after actor Michael Richards was caught saying it.
"It's terrible and then to turn around and look at other people and call them a racist," another man said.
"I wish he hadn't said it since he encouraged us not to use it," one woman said.
"I would hope because Jesse has done so much for black people I would hope his much-published slips won't completely wreck him," Anderson said. "But it hurts each time he has a situation like this. What it does is it undermines all the good the man has done for 40 years."
In his latest apology, issued Wednesday, Jackson didn't go into details. He never came out and said he was apologizing for using the N-word. However, he did ask Sen. Obama, his family and the American public to forgive him.
(© MMVIII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
Video: CBS 2's Picks To Click
