It’s generally poor form to speak ill of the recently deceased, but the problem with holding your tongue is that it often allows revisionism to congeal as history.

No doubt, the Rev. Jesse Jackson, Jr. has a complicated legacy. We shouldn’t judge people’s lives, not even high-profile leaders, by their worst moments. But Jackson had many bad moments, and yet if a person only saw the obituaries at legacy news outlets, they might come away believing this charismatic civil rights leader with a talent for alliteration, turns of phrase, and self-promotion was a beacon of decency, a defender of life, and a uniter of people.