Civil Rights Activist Jesse Jackson Dead At 84

Civil rights activist and two-time Democrat presidential candidate Jesse Jackson died Tuesday. He was 84. 

Jackson’s family announced his death on Tuesday morning. A cause of death was not provided, but Jackson was placed on life support in November after he was hospitalized over a neurological condition called progressive supranuclear palsy. 

“It is with profound sadness that we announce the passing of Civil Rights leader and founder of the Rainbow PUSH Coalition, the Honorable Reverend Jesse Louis Jackson, Sr. He died peacefully on Tuesday morning, surrounded by his family. His unwavering commitment to justice, equality, and human rights helped shape a global movement for freedom and dignity,” his family said. “Our father was a servant leader — not only to our family, but to the oppressed, the voiceless, and the overlooked around the world.”

Jackson was born in Greenville, South Carolina, on October 8, 1941. He graduated from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical College in 1964. Soon after, he began working closely with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and was heavily involved in King’s Southern Christian Leadership Conference. Jackson was with King in Memphis in 1968 when he was assassinated.

Working for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, Jackson ran “Operation Breadbasket” in Chicago. The program was meant to create economic opportunities for black people and would encourage boycotts of companies that did not “negotiate” for a “more equitable employment practice.”

Jackson ran for president in both 1984 and 1988, seeking the Democratic nomination. He embraced far-left policies and opposed the agenda of former President Ronald Reagan. He won about 18% of the vote in 1984 and won 11 states four years later. His 1984 campaign hit a snag after he used a slur to refer to Jewish people and New York City.

Jackson founded the Rainbow PUSH Coalition in 1996, which grew out of his 1984 presidential campaign that united minorities opposed to Reagan’s policies.

In 2000, he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by former President Bill Clinton.

In recent years, Jackson has advocated for the end of the electoral college and has sharply attacked President Donald Trump. Jackson called Trump a “racist” and a “weapon of mass destruction.”

“The language of Donald Trump has been a source of shame for our nation. Humiliation and untruth,” Jackson said back in 2018. In 2020, Jackson endorsed the presidential campaign of leftist Bernie Sanders.

He is survived by his wife, Jacqueline, and their children, Santita, Jesse Jr., Jonathan, Yusef, and Jacqueline. He has another daughter, Ashley Jackson, from another woman. A public ceremony for Jackson will be held in Chicago. 

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