Axios: RIP: Jesse Jackson, fiery icon of civil rights

Jesse Jackson, fiery icon of civil rights
 
The Rev. Jesse Jackson speaks to the Democratic National Convention in L.A. in 2000. Photo: Paul J. Richards/AFP via Getty Images

The Rev. Jesse Jackson, a civil rights icon who spent his career fighting racial inequality and injustice, and who made two historic runs for the presidency, died today, his family said in a statement. He was 84. Jackson leaves behind an expansive legacy, starting with his time alongside Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. to founding Operation Rainbow PUSH on the South Side of Chicago, Axios’ Justin Kaufmann, Delano Massey and Russell Contreras write. 

“Part of what makes America great is the right to fight for your rights,” Jackson told Axios’ Justin Kaufmann on WGN Radio in 2015. “You can change America. It’s like putty. You can reshape it.”Jesse Jackson (left) with the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in 1966. Photo: Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group via Getty Images

The civil rights pioneer grew up in Greenville, S.C., and after college joined King’s Southern Christian Leadership Conference.

Jackson ran for president in 1984 and 1988, becoming the first major Black candidate to mount a nationwide campaign, finishing second to Michael Dukakis in the 1988 Democratic primary.

Jackson also played a pivotal role in Barack Obama’s presidential campaign in 2008.

“The night when President Obama was declared the winner,” Jackson reflected in 2015, “I stood there and cried, in part because we’d won the big one, but also because it was the movement that made it possible.”Full obituary … Jackson’s life in photos.
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About michelleclarke2015

Life event that changes all: Horse riding accident in Zimbabwe in 1993, a fractured skull et al including bipolar anxiety, chronic fatigue …. co-morbidities (Nietzche 'He who has the reason why can deal with any how' details my health history from 1993 to date). 17th 2017 August operation for breast cancer (no indications just an appointment came from BreastCheck through the Post). Trinity College Dublin Business Economics and Social Studies (but no degree) 1997-2003; UCD 1997/1998 night classes) essays, projects, writings. Trinity Horizon Programme 1997/98 (Centre for Women Studies Trinity College Dublin/St. Patrick's Foundation (Professor McKeon) EU Horizon funded: research study of 15 women (I was one of this group and it became the cornerstone of my journey to now 2017) over 9 mth period diagnosed with depression and their reintegration into society, with special emphasis on work, arts, further education; Notes from time at Trinity Horizon Project 1997/98; Articles written for Irishhealth.com 2003/2004; St Patricks Foundation monthly lecture notes for a specific period in time; Selection of Poetry including poems written by people I know; Quotations 1998-2017; other writings mainly with theme of social justice under the heading Citizen Journalism Ireland. Letters written to friends about life in Zimbabwe; Family history including Michael Comyn KC, my grandfather, my grandmother's family, the O'Donnellan ffrench Blake-Forsters; Moral wrong: An acrimonious divorce but the real injustice was the Catholic Church granting an annulment – you can read it and make your own judgment, I have mine. Topics I have written about include annual Brain Awareness week, Mashonaland Irish Associataion in Zimbabwe, Suicide (a life sentence to those left behind); Nostalgia: Tara Hill, Co. Meath.
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