Jesse Jackson is joined by his daughter, Santita, and son Jonathan, far right, and unidentified youngster at the Los Angeles Hilton Hotel, June 8, 1988 after falling in defeat to Massachusetts Gov. Michael Dukakis in the California Democratic primary. (AP Photo/John Duricka, File)
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(AURN News) — Rev. Jesse Jackson has died at age 84.
This morning, Rev. Al Sharpton called him one of the nation’s greatest moral voices and a transformative leader who changed the country and the world.
In this Monday, June 4, 2007 file photo, Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., right, laughs after saying goodbye to Rev. Jesse Jackson, reflected left, after Obama addressed the Rainbow PUSH Coalition’s annual conference breakfast in Rosemont, Ill. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast, File)
Jackson stood beside the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., was with him in Memphis the night before his assassination, and later built his own movement — Operation PUSH and the Rainbow Coalition — demanding corporate accountability, economic inclusion and political power for Black communities long shut out.
He ran for president twice, in 1984 and 1988, winning millions of votes and proving that a Black candidate could compete nationally years before Barack Obama.
White House Correspondent Ebony McMorris is a native Washingtonian and University of South Carolina alumna. Her passion is mentoring young adults by teaching community empowerment and media education. She is an NAB member and board member of the Thurgood Marshall Center and was presented the President’s Lifetime Achievement Award for contributing more than 4,000 hours of community service under the Obama Administration.
