I was at the Maranatha Church in NE Portland last night to see Jesse Jackson and hear what he had to say about the recent killing of Aaron Campbell. I walked in wearing a business suit, snagged the last name tag, and headed to the front area that was reserved for “community leaders.”

As a representative of DRO, I watched the press conference in a side room and then had a front pew seat for the speeches. Sitting next to me was the family of Mr. Campbell. Behind me was a standing room only audience.

Security was light.  The mood was a combination of reverence, excitement and solidarity.  The music was great.  The church leaders provided gentle and amused direction for those who parked their cars in the wrong place or might be tempted to bring in some food.  It felt like a welcoming community.

Meanwhile, I didn’t forget about the politics and I know that Jesse didn’t either.  There were no elected officials in the audience.  Today’s papers made it clear why: Jesse’s most controversial-sounding words were captured in the headlines.  This was no mistake.  The press and Jackson know the rules of the game.  Attention needs to be gotten and this is how you get it. 

In the church though, the topic was not controversy.  It was community. Reverend Jackson was surrounded on the stage by his fellow senior ministers.  They clearly enjoyed and appreciated each other.  Jackson seemed remarkably cool and serene during most of the proceedings.  That is until an elderly preacher followed Jackson’s speech with an explosion of passionate rhetoric that electrified the crowd and put an animated smile on Jesse’s face.

When Jackson spoke to the press and to the crowd, his first words were to offer comfort and support to the Campbell family. He then spoke about the killing and also about the general condition of black Oregonians. He held a recently issued report, The State of Black Oregon, which documents, in Jackson’s words, that African American Oregonians are “free but not equal.”  The statistics in the report bear him out.

Jesse spoke about the killing mainly in the context of respect and dignity.  He didn’t speak about whether the shooting was justified but dwelled on reports that the body was left on the ground, in handcuffs for a half hour while dogs sniffed it.  He spoke to the desire of every person in the audience to be treated like a human being.

I heard Jackson extol the virtues of compassion, peace, strength in adversity and perseverance.  He did not agitate.  He supported a grieving community and to suggested positive action for change.  He asked individuals to demand justice and an “even playing field,” and also urged people to take responsibility for themselves and their community.

Jackson suggested a path for action: the community, he said, should demand at the officer who killed Mr. Campbell be kept off the job until the police internal investigation was complete. This is hardly the stuff of a firebrand zealot.

But check out the response from Portland Police Sgt. Scott Westerman, president of the Portland Police Association.  He said: "… for the Rev. Jesse Jackson to come in last night and to divide the community again and to vilify the officer is a disgrace. I think Rev. Jackson is either ill-informed or has an alternate agenda."

Westerman’s response sums up the problem in this city. What I saw last night was a community coming together with the guidance of respected leaders to grieve and formulate a peaceful and constructive plan of action. What our official police spokesman saw was an outside agitator.

Westerman says that the community should leave the shooter alone and, instead, ask for change in police policies. Westerman’s belated call for policy changes may have merit, but it is buried under yet another insult to the black community. The people I was with last night know who they are and know what their experience is.  They also know who is on their side.