Rev. Jesse Jackson built his life on three words: 'I am somebody'.
Thecivil rights leader, who turned voter registration into economic power for millions of Black Americans, died peacefully on Tuesday morning at his Chicago home. He was 84.
His family confirmed he passed surrounded by loved ones afterbattling Parkinson's disease since 2017and progressive supranuclear palsy, according to a statement from theRainbow PUSH Coalition.
Hours after Jackson's death,President Donald Trump offered wordsfew expected.
'He was very gregarious. Someone who truly loved people.' Trump called Jackson 'a force of nature like few others before him.'
He also noted his own history with the civil rights leader, including providing office space for the Rainbow Coalition at 40 Wall Street during the 1990s.
The praise stood out. Trump and Jackson occupied opposite ends of American politics for decades. Yet here was the sitting president honouring a man who twice ran against the Republican establishment.
Michelle and I were deeply saddened to hear about the passing of a true giant, the Reverend Jesse Jackson. We will always be grateful for Jesse's lifetime of service, and the friendship our families share. We stood on his shoulders. We send our deepest condolences to the Jackson…pic.twitter.com/Q68r4IJt9U
'In his two historic runs for president, he laid the foundation for my own campaign to the highest office of the land,' Obama stated. Michelle Obama, he added, 'got her first glimpse of political organising at the Jacksons' kitchen table when she was a teenager.'
Jackson's son offered a different frame for his father's work.
Source: International Business Times UK
