Jesse Jackson, civil rights defender who fought to “keep hope alive” has died

Athletically built, he received a scholarship to play football at the University of Illinois, but ended up transferring to a black university in North Carolina, where he graduated in sociology in 1964. It was there that he met Jacqueline, whom he married in 1962.

Upon finishing the course, Jackson was already fully involved in the civil rights movement and had already met Martin Luther King Jr.. He was in Selma, after the events of Bloody Sunday in 1965, when a march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge ended in attacks from authorities. And he ended up suspending his studies at the seminary where he had entered (he would later finish) to continue the fight, being appointed to a position at King’s Southern Christian Leadership Conference.

The tragedy occurred on April 4, 1968, when he witnessed the murder of his mentor at the Lorraine motel in Memphis. Jackson, who appeared on television still covered in King’s blood, ended up assuming a leadership role, founding his own association in the 1970s – PUSH (People United to Save Humanity). In the 1980s, he twice sought to be nominated as a Democratic candidate for president of the United States (in 1984 he came third in the primaries and in 1988 he was second), creating the Rainbow National Coalition to defend the voting rights of black people (in the 1990s he would end up combining the two organizations into one). Along the way, he helped shape a new Democratic Party.

“If blacks vote in large numbers, progressive whites win. It’s the only way progressive white people can win. If blacks vote in large numbers, Hispanics win. When progressive blacks, Hispanics and whites vote, women win. When women win, children win. When women and children win, workers win. We need to unite,” he said in a memorable speech at the 1984 Democratic Convention.

“I was born in a poor neighborhood, but the poor neighborhood wasn’t born in me. And it wasn’t born in you, you can do it. Wherever they are tonight, they can do it. Keep your head up, fill your chest with air. You can do it. Sometimes it gets dark, but morning comes. Don’t give up. Suffering forges character, character forges faith. In the end, faith does not disappoint. They must not give up. (…) We must never give up. America will get better and better. Keep hope alive. Keep hope alive. Tomorrow night and always, keep hope alive!”, he said in another speech, at the 1988 Convention.