Remembering when Jesse and Bruce stood together in defense of "that Promised Land"
- Letters To You
- Mar 5
- 4 min read
Updated: Mar 6
March 5, 2026
Tomorrow at least three living U.S. presidents, along with many other leaders, politicians, and dignitaries from around the world, will be in Chicago at the final public memorial service for veteran Civil Rights Movement-based leader, activist, and international negotiator Jesse Jackson, before his private funeral and burial services on Saturday.
David Masciotra, the author of Working on a Dream: The Progressive Political Vision of Bruce Springsteen, also became Jesse Jackson's biographer and friend in the final two decades of Jackson's life. Click here to read Masciotra's excellent essay/obituary, "The Poetic Symmetry of Jesse Jackson’s Life: Love, Rage, and Leadership," published in full at CounterPunch.org.
The paths of Jesse Jackson and Bruce Springsteen crossed significantly on October 27, 1996, when they both appeared at a Los Angeles rally in opposition to that autumn's California ballot Proposition 209, aka "The California Civil Rights Initiative." Despite its name, the proposition actually was an anti-affirmative-action measure to amend the state's constitution and prohibit California's government from addressing any issues of "race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin in the operation of public employment, public education, or public contracting." The proposition was heartily endorsed by California's Republican governor at that time, Pete Wilson. Springsteen, then residing in California, joined Jesse Jackson and others in opposing the proposition and encouraging California's citizens to vote "no" against it. Nevertheless, in November of that year 55% of California's voters voted "yes," and Proposition 209 became law.
At the October 27th rally, Bruce spoke and performed two songs, directly after Jesse Jackson's speech. Springsteen jokingly opened his remarks by saying, "I'm not used to this... and Jesse Jackson just gave the speech that I was gonna give." Jackson's speech included the key points he was making consistently during his series of public anti-Proposition-209 appearances and statements: ”The California Civil Rights Initiative sounds all right, but it is slick, it is treachery, it is civil wrong. It is a wolf in sheep’s clothing... All that we have gained... is now threatened, now in jeopardy. You can watch on the sidelines like you are being entertained by it all. Maybe you don’t feel like you are changing the world. But today, California is Selma, California is Birmingham." Jackson also spoke of affirmative-action programs ultimately benefiting all citizens because they help to enlarge "the tent" of U.S. society. "209 threatens the tent," said Jackson, "it threatens opportunity.”
Below is a complete video and transcription of Bruce Springsteen's public statement following Jesse Jackson's speech, along with both songs performed by Bruce at that Los Angeles rally: "The Promised Land" (of course) and, after Jesse Jackson and others enthusiastically requested one more song, "No Surrender." (Jackson "lobbied" before the crowd for "Born in the U.S.A.," to which Springsteen good-naturedly feigned exasperation, laughed, and muttered into the microphone, "He's makin' requests now." Before singing "No Surrender," Bruce also jokingly announced "Jesse Jackson's gonna sing one for us," to which Jackson humorously - and somewhat prophetically, at that point - replied, "'We Shall Overcome.'")
I'm not used to this, and Jesse Jackson just gave the speech I was gonna give, but I'm here today because I believe it's very important to California to stop Proposition 209. I don't think that any of us can look into our hearts and say that we live in a race- and gender-blind society, a society where women and people of color have the same opportunities as the rest of America. If you can, then there's a job waiting for you over at Disneyland.
Affirmative action isn't perfect, but it's worked. It's been good public policy. It was founded in the search for the kind of just and equitable society that many of us have dreamed that America could be for so long: a dream that my kids might someday grow up in, because a country grounded in less than equal opportunity for all isn't good enough. A country grounded in fear of one another won't stand. People, especially in this city, have lived through the consequences and have seen where that fear takes us.
Martin Luther King had a vision of the Promised Land as a land rooted neither in prejudice or privilege but in the flawed, hard-won sense of community, rooted in the opportunity for every man and woman to live a fruitful life, to raise themselves up, to contribute, to realize the best of their potentials, to have a decent job, to be able to someday turn to their children and say, "It doesn't matter if you're a man or a woman, if you're black, white, yellow, or brown. In America, you'll have a chance to realize your dream, to get the education, and to do the work that fulfills you and that brings meaning and purpose to your life."
Affirmative action has been an effective tool in beginning to realize that vision, but that vision has not been realized, and Governor Wilson and the people who are trying to convince you, the citizens of this state, that it has, are doing a great, great disservice. They're fanning the flames of political cynicism, and they're using this issue to divide us all in race and gender lines, in a way that is dangerous and insulting to all of us. The seeds of injustice and racism do not sleep, and neither can we. All Californians of good will must stand shoulder to shoulder, and say that we're better than this, and we won't be fooled.
I believe that Promised Land that Martin Luther King so eloquently envisioned and died for is still attainable, but it's not here and we're not there. It's somewhere up ahead... maybe in my kids' future, maybe in your kids' future. I hope so, but right now we need to protect the tool that will allow us to build the kind of country where future generations will find their opportunities, their rights, and their dreams were protected. That's our job now. So there's battles to be won; let's stand together in defense of that Promised Land. Vote "No." Stop Proposition 209...
Jesse said he wants to borrow that speech next time out.
