A giant has returned home. Words cannot fully capture the life, legacy, and complete impact of the Rev. Jesse Jackson. Today, the nation and the world lost a civil rights icon, a champion for justice, and a righteous fighter who was always on the correct side of history.
It’s strange to speak of Rev. Jackson in the past tense; someone who was a fierce force of nature who embodied the qualities of true leadership and was a foot soldier for justice. He kept the dream alive and taught young children from broken homes, like me, that we don’t have broken spirits. He told us we were somebody and made us believe. He first called me into purpose when I was just 12 years old.
My mother introduced me to civil rights leader Rev. William Augustus Jones Jr., who then brought me to Rev. Jackson when he was in his 20s and I was barely a teenager. He instantly became a mentor. I was immediately drawn to him; he was born into a family situation similar to mine, and was not of the elitist crowd that a lot of the ministers were of that day. During those transformative years of my life, his guidance helped steer me toward my own activism and find my voice. I knew Rev. Jackson before he was a national figure, before he became a household name. He was always hard on me, told me repeatedly that I needed to study and be more disciplined. He was, in short, the taskmaster of my life.
Rev. Jackson appointed me as youth director of the Brooklyn branch of Operation Breadbasket, the economic arm of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, which was founded by Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. He entrusted me with that great responsibility at such a young age, and saw something in me before I fully saw it myself. That is the true measure of a mentor: They don’t just teach you; they name you.
Years later, after I started the National Action Network, it was Rev. Jackson who named our headquarters in Harlem the House of Justice, as a reminder that movements must always be anchored in moral purpose.
Throughout his life, Rev. Jackson called for inclusivity — a multiracial alliance that was composed of every group, regardless of their socio-economic, gender, or ethnic background. He carried Dr. King’s teachings into future generations and spent decades fighting for equality across the board, for the betterment of our communities and our nation as a whole. Through Operation PUSH and the Rainbow Coalition, he expanded the political imagination of the country, and in turn, the world.
He twice ran for president, breaking down barriers and allowing us to see that such a goal was possible. He opened doors that many of us, me included, followed through and walked in his footsteps, and ran for president as well. “Keep hope alive!” was his signature line during his second run for president. Despite the open racism he received on the campaign trail and the institutional barriers in place, Rev. Jackson never lost hope and encouraged all of us to keep pushing forward for a better tomorrow.
When Barack Obama was elected as the first Black president of the United States in 2008, Rev. Jackson had literal tears in his eyes — tears of joy and tears for all the sacrifices of our ancestors that led to that historic moment.
On the global stage, Rev. Jackson was a respected figure who helped negotiate the release of dozens of American hostages and prisoners in the 1980s and 1990s. In 1984, he secured the release of a captured Navy lieutenant from Syria, as well as the release of 48 Cuban and Cuban-American prisoners in Cuba. In 1990, he helped secure the release of prisoners held by Saddam Hussein, and later that decade helped negotiate the release of U.S. soldiers held in Kosovo. The list of his international and diplomatic work goes on and on.
Today, the nation and the world is in mourning. Throughout most of my life, I had the privilege of watching, observing, and learning from Rev. Jackson. He broadened and democratized America, including the corporate world, which then led to the opening of board rooms and the expansion of business contracts. He continuously fought for the protection of voting rights, and the inclusion and acceptance of all, including members of the LGBTQIA community and marginalized communities. When the Civil Rights Act of ’64 and the Voting Rights Act of ’65 had to be renewed, it was Rev. Jackson who took that fight and kept it going through the Ronald Reagan years and years of backlash.
He was a fighter until the very end. I visited and prayed with his family when he was in the hospital, and after learning of the tragic news of his passing, I prayed with his family once again by phone. He was more than a public figure to me — he was a mentor and even godfather to my own children. He prayed over my two daughters when they were just infants; he spoke life into them as young girls. We stood in his home not as a headline, but as family. We now feel the immense loss of a beloved family member who helped push this nation on a progressive trajectory. I will always cherish the fact that he took me under his wing and will forever try to do my part to keep hope alive.
Leaders are defined by their character and the mark they leave in this world. Rev. Jackson’s legacy lives on through his children and those of us lucky to have known him personally. It also continues through his activism, political and diplomatic work, and all of his efforts to unite us and create a better society. It is now up to everyone to continue that work and carry the torch forward as he did.
In these trying times, let us remember these poignant words from Rev. Jackson’s speech in 1988:
“If an issue is morally right, it will eventually be political. It may be political and never be right. Fanny Lou Hamer didn’t have the most votes in Atlantic City, but her principles have outlasted the life of every delegate who voted to lock her out. Rosa Parks did not have the most votes, but she was morally right. Dr. King didn’t have the most votes about the Vietnam War, but he was morally right. If we are principled first, our politics will fall in place.”
Rev. Al Sharpton is president and founder of the National Action Network.