RIP Jesse Jackson

RIP. He had issues but he was one of the biggest leaders in the civil rights movement for black Americans.

Duvall and Jackson. Wonder who will be the third famous death?
 
www.nytimes.com

Jesse Jackson, Civil Rights Leader Who Sought the Presidency, Dies at 84

An impassioned orator, he was a moral and political force who formed a “rainbow coalition” of poor and working-class people. His mission, he said, was “to transform the mind of America.”
www.nytimes.com www.nytimes.com

The Rev. Jesse Jackson, whose impassioned oratory and populist vision of a “rainbow coalition” of the poor and forgotten made him the nation’s most influential Black figure in the years between the civil rights crusades of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the election of Barack Obama, died on Tuesday. He was 84.

His death was confirmed by his family in a statement, which said that Mr. Jackson “died peacefully” but did not give a cause or say where he died.

Mr. Jackson was hospitalized in November for treatment of a rare and particularly severe neurodegenerative condition, progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP), according to the advocacy organization he founded, the Rainbow PUSH Coalition. In 2017, he announced that he had Parkinson’s disease, which in its early stages can produce similar effects on bodily movements and speech.
 
I saw him in Memorial Hall in 1984 I believe it was. He was dynamic and preacherly even when talking politics.

He played baseball at NCA&T.
 
I wasn't able to make it to the event, but Jackson once spoke at my undergraduate school (Washington & Lee). The College Republican group included almost every student. The Young Democrats had maybe 20 members. I remember thinking Jackson would be eaten alive. But to my surprise, Jesse impressed all in attendance. Hardcore Reaganites remarked, "He made some good points". Despite any of his personal failings, Jesse Jackson was an impressive orator and an important figure in an important movement.
 
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