The Numinous Negro - His importance in our lives; why he is fading

National Review, August 20, 2001 by Richard Brookhiser

The context in which the Numinous Negro flourished changed during the career of Jesse Jackson, and Jackson himself changed accordingly. Along with his many flaws, he once had flashes of real eloquence. One appeared as late as the 1992 Democratic convention, when, in the midst of his rant, he told an anecdote about a black woman with a repetitive- motion injury, who worked in a chicken-processing factory, and whose supervisor had called her a bitch. "You ain't no bitch!" Jackson snarled, and good for him. But that was very late in the game. The corporate shakedowns, which were taking place back in the Seventies, now take all the time that can be spared from hobnobbing with West African dictators like Charles Taylor and Foday Sankoh. Jackson's appearance has degenerated along with his character. The man who once carried himself at the podium like a bullfighter is now a fleshy, gravelly-voiced shouter. He looks like a comic villain on Amos 'n' Andy.

Al Sharpton began below where Jackson ended up. Wit and charm must be granted him, but he has no principles and no honesty. He is a tabloid cartoon figure, moving in a penumbra of slander and murder, from Tawana Brawley to Freddie's Fashion Mart-a grotesque and odious little man. If these are the two contenders for the religious and political incarnation of the Numinous Negro, then it's time to retire the role.

Will the future bring some new role? John Jay Chapman's biography of William Lloyd Garrison describes an electric moment in the life of Frederick Douglass, when an abolitionist takes a walk with Douglass down a Boston street and introduces him to a friend, just as he would introduce any (white) man. The moment is even more fraught than Douglass and Chapman realize. Was the abolitionist trying to epater the Yankee bourgeoisie? Was he displaying his virtue? How was he using Douglass? How was Douglass using him?

But maybe the moment was also really what it seemed to be-one man introducing another to a third. Maybe when the Numinous Negro has gone away, more black and white Americans will meet each other. We should neither hold our breaths, nor despair.