Civil Rights Leader Rev. Jesse Jackson Dead At 84

The Rev. Jesse Jackson, the longtime civil rights activist and two-time presidential candidate, died on Tuesday at the age of 84, according to NBC News.

Jackson’s family released this statement:

“Our father was a servant leader, not only to our family, but to the oppressed, the voiceless, and the overlooked around the world. We shared him with the world, and in return, the world became part of our extended family. His unwavering belief in justice, equality, and love uplifted millions, and we ask you to honor his memory by continuing the fight for the values he lived by.”

Civil rights leader Rev. Al Sharpton wrote in a statement that “our nation lost one of its greatest moral voices” and paid tribute to a man who “carried history in his footsteps and hope in his voice.”

“Reverend Jackson stood wherever dignity was under attack, from apartheid abroad to injustice at home. His voice echoed in boardrooms and in jail cells. His presence shifted rooms. His faith never wavered,” Sharpton said.

The cause of death was not immediately given by the family; however, they said he died peacefully, surrounded by his loved ones.

One important note: Jackson had been living with progressive supranuclear palsy for more than a decade. He was also hospitalized twice with Covid in recent years.

Jackson was born in Greenville, South Carolina, in 1941 and quickly became a civil rights leader, emerging as one of several disciples of Martin Luther King Jr. His activism spanned half a century, including two runs for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1984 and 1988.

“America is not like a blanket, one piece of unbroken cloth, the same color, the same texture, the same size. America is more like a quilt: many patches, many pieces, many colours, many sizes, all woven and held together by a common thread,” Jackson told the audience at the 1984 Democratic convention. “Even in our fractured state, all of us count and fit somewhere.”

During the Monica Lewinsky scandal at the White House, Jackson offered the Clinton family much-needed spiritual advice:

“You need faith when storms come suddenly, so I really talked to Hillary and Chelsea about matters of faith and unconditional love.”

In the Obama years, Jackson stated, “We are a better America today.”

But as soon as the Trump era began, he warned, “The idea of making America great again reopens the wounds in America’s immoral foundation, born in sin, and shaped in inequity.”