Reverend Jesse Jackson’s life and work serves as an extraordinary chapter in American history, and with his passing, another Civil Rights Era pioneer, citizen diplomat, and legislative bridge-builder, has passed. He died in Chicago at age 84, with his six-decade legacy for the ‘oppressed, the voiceless, and the overlooked’ extending to the end of the Jackson family.’ He died peacefully on Tuesday morning surrounded by family.
In the Footsteps of Dr. King
At 84, Jackson lost a battle with the illness of time, but his fight for social and economic justice for the disenfranchised and the communities of color is one that needs to be emulated by those who fight Colin Powell’s battle against the AIDS virus and the suicide bombings of the Middle East. His activism began as a child in the 1950s segregated South, where at the age of 14, he was arrested for trying to integrate a ‘whites only’ public library. In 1965, he was in the first Selma to Montgomery march with Dr. King.
King enlisted Jackson to run Operation Breadbasket. It was a program that won economic empowerment for Black people through boycotts of white-owned businesses. In 1968, he was an eyewitness to the assassination of Dr. King, an event he described as highly traumatizing and one that fueled his commitment to nonviolent activism for social justice for the rest of his life.
Breaking the Glass Ceiling: Jackson’s 1984 and 1988 Campaigns
Although Jesse Jackson was the first Black candidate for the presidency to receive votes, Barack Obama gets much more credit and attention for being the first Black president.
- 1984: Jackson was the first Black U.S. presidential candidate and was able to create the National Rainbow Coalition and receive 3.3 million votes, playing a key role in demonstrating that Black candidates can win votes on a national level.
- 1988: Jackson’s second attempt to win the Democratic nomination was even more successful. He clinched 6.9 million votes and 11 state primaries and caucuses. “Keep Hope Alive,” Jackson’s speech at the Atlanta convention is probably the best political speech of all time.
The Jackson campaigns were not only about race, but also about class and the ‘Rainbow Coalition’ of the poor, working class, and all oppressed peoples. He used to say that “America is not a blanket woven from one thread’… but more like a quilt—many patches, many colors, many sizes.”
Global Citizen Diplomacy
In the 1990s and 2000s Jackson’s mission of peace and reconciliation became global. He became a peacemaker and negotiator for the release of many Americans, even to the point of acting on his own initiative.
- He convinced Hafez al-Assad to release an American pilot in Syria.
- He facilitated the liberation of 22 Americans in Cuba (1984).
- He obtained the liberation of three arrested U.S. soldiers in Serbia during the Kosovo War (1999).
Last Fight Against Illness
In 2017, Jackson was diagnosed with the initial stages of Progressive Supranuclear Palsy (PSP), a rare and aggressive neurological disorder, which he later tragically succumbed to. Speaking was impossible for. him in the last months of his life, but he would still be seen at hand-squeezing. protests during the Black Lives Matter protests, and the protests for a ceasefire in Gaza.
In his statements to his followers, he said, “A part of our life’s work was to tear down walls and build bridge. When you do this work to tear down walls, you can sometimes get scared by the falling debris, but your mission is to open up holes for the people behind you to run through.” When Obama won the presidential election in 2008, Jackson was seen crying at Grant Park, the end of a “60-year race” of his life.
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