In 1948 Vernon Jarrett left his job as journalist at the Chicago Defender
to start a black oriented radio show “Negro Newsfront” with Oscar Brown.
Jarrett was clearly on the far left and almost certainly, like his
colleague Frank Marshall Davis, a covert member of the Communist Party.
Jarrett worked hard promoting socialist causes including the communist
controlled Progressive Party.
Vernon Jarrett went on to become the Chicago Tribune’s first black
syndicated columnist and was a founder of the National Association of Black
Journalists.
According to a Washington Post obituary May 25th 2004
Mr. Jarrett continually shone a light on African American history and
pertinent issues in Chicago and throughout the country. He stoked the
political embers in Chicago that led to the 1983 election of the city’s
first African American mayor, Harold Washington.
Vernon Jarrett was a key influence in Washington’s decision to run for the
Chicago mayoralty and remained a key supporter through his four year
tenure.
Harold Washington defeated the Daley machine to win the mayoralty backed by
a coalition led by Chicago’s Communist Party and the local branch of
Democratic Socialists of America (DSA).
DSA member and socialist historian Paul Buhle, wrote in a 1992 article for
the Encyclopedia of the American Left;
Communists also gained from long-standing political contacts in the black
community. Victories of black mayoral and congressional candidates with
decades — old ties to the CP — a short list would include Coleman Young and
George Crocket in Detroit, Gus Newport in Berkeley, and somewhat more
ambiguously, Harold Washington in Chicago
Washington was actively involved in Communist Party fronts such as the US
Peace Council and the Chicago Committee on Southern Africa, right up to
winning the mayoralty-with Party support. After victory he stacked his
administration full of communists, socialists and sympathisers to create
one of the most far left administrations in US history-cut short only by
his pre-mature death after four years in office.
I quote from remarks by Illinois Communist Party organiser John Bachtell to
a “Special District Meeting on African American Equality and Building the
Communist Party and Young Communist League, Chicago”, IL September 30,
2007.
The legacy of Harold Washington’s election and his administration is in the
collective consciousness not only of the African American community, but
the entire city. Many of his democratizing achievements endure 20 years
later.
The historic election of Washington was the culmination of many years of
struggle. It reflected a high degree of unity of the African American
community and the alliance with a section of labor, the Latino community
and progressive minded whites. This legacy of political independence also
endures...
This was also reflected in the historic election of Barack Obama. Our Party
actively supported Obama during the primary election. Once again Obama’s
campaign reflected the electoral voting unity of the African American
community, but also the alliances built with several key trade unions, and
forces in the Latino and white communities.
It also reflected a breakthrough among white voters. In the primary, Obama
won 35% of the white vote and 7 north side wards, in a crowded field.
During the general election he won every ward in the city and all the
collar counties. This appeal has continued in his presidential run.
Barack Obama has stated that Harold Washington’s victory in 1983 was the
spur that made him leave New York to move to Chicago.
Vernon Jarrett was also a fan of Barack Obama. He watched his career from
its early stages and became an ardent supporter.
In 1992 Obama worked for the ACORN offshoot, Project Vote to register black
voters in aid of the Senate Campaign of Carol Moseley Braun. Unsurprisingly
Moseley Braun also had strong Communist Party ties and was Harold
Washington’s legislative floor leader.
Obama helped Moseley Braun win her Senate seat, then took it over himself
in 2004-backed of course by the same communist/socialist alliance that had
elected his political predecessors Harold Washington and Carol Moseley
Braun.
Commenting on the 1992 race, Vernon Jarrett wrote in the Chicago Sun-Times
of August 11th 1992;
Good news! Good news! Project Vote, a collectivity of 10 church-based
community organizations dedicated to black voter registration, is off and
running. Project Vote is increasing its rolls at a 7,000-per-week clip...If
Project Vote is to reach its goal of registering 150,000 out of an
estimated 400,000 unregistered blacks statewide, “it must average 10,000
rather than 7,000 every week,” says Barack Obama, the program’s executive
director...
October 12 2010