In a decades-long effort, Jesse Jackson sided with MLK, advocated for voting rights, shamed corporations, and negotiated with world leaders.
Pastor Jesse Jackson responds to George Floyd’s death
Pastor Jesse Jackson shares his thoughts and frustrations regarding the death of George Floyd.
america today
The Reverend Jesse Jackson, a prominent icon of the civil rights movement who fought alongside Martin Luther King Jr., negotiated the release of hostages worldwide, and shamed corporations for their lack of diversity and support for voting rights, has died. He was 84 years old.
Jackson was hospitalized on Nov. 12 after a long battle with progressive supranuclear palsy, a progressive neuromuscular disease with symptoms similar to Parkinson’s disease. He was a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, a Democratic presidential candidate, and one of the most famous black activists in the world.
“It is with deep sadness that we announce the passing of Reverend Jesse Lewis Jackson Sr., a civil rights leader and founder of the Rainbow Push Coalition,” the group said in a statement on Instagram. “He passed away peacefully on Tuesday morning surrounded by his family.”
Even though his illness weakened his voice and his steps, he continued to advocate for civil rights and was arrested twice in 2021 for opposing the Senate filibuster rules. That same year, he and his wife, Jacqueline, were admitted to a Chicago hospital with complications from COVID-19.
“His longevity is part of the story,” said Rashad Robinson, former president of Color of Change, an online justice organization with 7 million members. “This is a guy who had a lot of opportunities to do other things, and this is what he chose to do with his life.”
Jackson’s death comes amid a growing tide of white nationalism and voting access issues, and follows the loss of other civil rights icons, including former Congressman John Lewis, who died in 2020.
Creating civil rights icons
Born in Greenville, North Carolina, Jackson began to rise to fame after he and seven other men, then 18, were arrested in 1960 for protesting racial discrimination at the town’s public library. He then joined King during the burgeoning civil rights movement and was only a few feet away when King was assassinated in 1968.
Jackson founded what eventually became the Rainbow/Push Coalition and ran for president as a Democrat in 1984 and 1988, energizing and registering millions of black voters.
“As we continue our fight for human rights, we must remember that God will see us through, even in the middle of the night,” Jackson said in 2017 when she announced her diagnosis of the neuromuscular disease.
Jackson traveled to Minneapolis in 2021 to support protesters awaiting sentencing in the trial of former police officer Derek Chauvin, who was convicted days later of killing George Floyd, a black man. While there, he also attended a service for Daunte Wright, a black man who was shot and killed by a police officer during a protest against police brutality in a nearby suburb. In a subdued voice, Mr. Jackson reminded the young activists leading the protest march that their cause was just.
Born in the fall of 1941 to a teenage mother and a married neighbor, Jackson was adopted by the man his mother married and considered them his father. He attended a segregated high school, played football in college, and dropped out a few credits short of a master’s degree in divinity in 1966 to join the civil rights movement full-time.
By 1965, he marched with King and others from Selma to Montgomery to demand black voting rights, and by 1967 he was in charge of running King’s Southern Christian Leadership Conference in Chicago, King’s home city.
Under the Jackson administration, SCLC’s Operation Breadbasket used boycotts and public attention to pressure companies to hire more black workers. After being ordained as a minister in 1968, Jackson eventually earned a divinity degree.
In 1983, shortly before announcing his presidential bid, Jackson traveled to Syria to negotiate the release of an American pilot shot down over Lebanon, and the following summer, after meeting with former dictator Fidel Castro, he negotiated the release of 22 Americans and 26 political prisoners from Cuba.
His success energized his presidential campaign, but he lost the primary to Walter Mondale, who lost to Ronald Reagan. Jackson ran for president again in 1988 and did well, but ultimately lost to Mike Dukakis and ultimately to George H.W. Bush.
After his second defeat, Jackson shelved his political aspirations but continued to strive for civil rights and justice.
In 1990, Jackson opposed the pending invasion of Iraq, negotiating the release of hundreds of people whom Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein had threatened to use as human shields, and in 1999 won the release of three U.S. prisoners of war during the Kosovo war.
“There would have been no Barack Obama. There would have been no Bill Clinton.”
Robinson, former president of Color of Change, remembers hearing and seeing his family make their first political donation after hearing Jackson’s presidential campaign speech.
“I didn’t understand everything he said, but I understood what he meant,” said Robinson, who later wrote a college thesis on Jackson’s campaign. “He was truly a model of what was possible. People in politics today wouldn’t be where they are because of Jesse Jackson. Without Jesse Jackson, there would be no Barack Obama. And there would be no Bill Clinton.”
In 2000, Mr. Clinton awarded Mr. Jackson the Presidential Medal of Freedom for his decades of work to make the world a better place.
“It’s hard to imagine how we would have gotten to this point without Jesse Lewis Jackson’s creativity, keen intellect, loving heart, and unrelenting passion,” Clinton said.
Trahern Crews, who helped found the Minnesota chapter of Black Lives Matter, said he grew up with Jackson’s recitation of “I Am Somebody” ringing in his ears. Jackson often led the crowd in call-and-answer chants that included variations of “I may be poor…but I’m…someone. I may be young…but I’m…someone.”
“This allowed future generations to stand up and follow in his footsteps, declare that Black Lives Matter, and recognize our humanity,” Cruz said. “Going back and watching videos of Reverend Jesse Jackson marching for housing rights, voting rights, fighting to end housing discrimination, and chanting ‘I am someone’ inspired today’s activists to stand up and fight 400 years of racist policies in America.”
