Charismatic US civil rights leader Jesse Jackson, an eloquent Baptist minister raised in the segregated south who became a close associate of Martin Luther King Jr and twice ran for the Democratic presidential nomination, has died at age 84, his family said in a statement yesterday.
“Our father was a servant leader — not only to our family, but to the oppressed, the voiceless, and the overlooked around the world,” the Jackson family said.
Jackson, an inspirational orator and long-time Chicagoan, was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2017.
Photo: EPA
His death comes at a time when US President Donald Trump’s administration has targeted US institutions, from museums to monuments to national parks, to remove what the president calls “anti-American” ideology, leading to the dismantling of slavery exhibits, the restoration of Confederate statues and other moves that civil rights advocates say could reverse decades of social progress.
The media-savvy Jackson advocated for the rights of black Americans and other marginalized communities dating back to the turbulent civil rights movement of the 1960s, spearheaded by his mentor King, a Baptist minister and towering social activist.
Jackson weathered a spate of controversies, but remained the US’ pre-eminent civil rights figure for decades.
He ran for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1984 and 1988, attracting black voters and many white liberals in mounting unexpectedly strong campaigns, but fell short of becoming the first black major party White House nominee. Ultimately, he never held elective office.
Jackson founded the Chicago-based civil rights groups Operation PUSH and the National Rainbow Coalition.
Fellow civil rights leader the Reverend Al Sharpton called his mentor “a consequential and transformative leader who changed this nation and the world.”
“He kept the dream alive and taught young children from broken homes, like me, that we don’t have broken spirits,” Sharpton wrote on Facebook. “A giant has gone home.”
Additional reporting by AP
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