Family, close allies, and confidants gathered in Chicago on Saturday for an intimate memorial service honouring the late Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr., a day after a widely televised public celebration.
The poignant event, held at the Rainbow PUSH Coalition’s headquarters, served as a powerful call to action, urging attendees to uphold the civil rights leader’s enduring legacy.
Hundreds attended the final homegoing service on the South Side, where speakers, including Jackson’s children, prominent civil rights figures, and two African presidents, stressed that the most fitting tribute to his life was to continue his tireless advocacy for universal human rights and economic justice.
Yusef Jackson, one of the reverend’s sons and president of the Rainbow PUSH Coalition, underscored this sentiment.
“It is appropriate that we respect this season of grief,” he stated, “However, it is also appropriate to honor him by stepping up, to step out, and continue his work by answering his call to serve.”
He added that the organisation recently deepened partnerships with activists in Minnesota, a state that experienced mass protests after a significant Homeland Security operation was launched there under the Trump administration.
U.S. Rep. Jonathan Jackson, an Illinois Democrat and one of the late reverend’s sons, said that his father “taught me that any society that will not support the many who are poor will never be able to save the few who are rich.” He said that his father’s relentless activism and charisma were rooted in a Christian call to service.
“For the children on the reservations, in the barrios, in the ghettos, he was speaking to you,” said the congressman. “My father was attacked for speaking about diversity. He was vilified for his stand on equality, and had the people who wanted to kill him had their way, we would have never seen a rainbow coalition.”
Marc Morial, president of the National Urban League, said that ambitious politicians should emulate the political strategy Jackson championed during his two presidential bids.
“Let the word go out that anyone who would like to be president of the United States in 2028, you’d better study this concept of the rainbow coalition,” Morial said.
Members of the public were welcomed to fellowship with family, world leaders
In a move meant to reflect Jackson’s ethos, some members of the public who gathered outside the PUSH headquarters were allowed to enter the private service.
“Dad’s theology was rooted in the belief that every human being carries inherent worth,” said Ashley Jackson, the late reverend’s youngest daughter. “He fought for that truth in places that most people never saw, people whose names never made the news across decades and continents and causes.”
The service included musical performances by singers Stevie Wonder, Opal Staples, Terisa Griffin, Kim Burrell and others. The comedian Chris Tucker added some levity to the solemn services with a stand-up comedy set.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa thanked the late Jackson for his work to end South Africa’s apartheid system. Jackson was a close friend of Nelson Mandela, South Africa’s first Black president.
“He told the world that the struggle for dignity in the United States was inseparable from the fight against apartheid and injustice in South Africa,” said Ramaphosa, who said his nation claimed the late civil rights leader as one of their own.
“When Jesse Jackson reminded the United States that its strength as a nation lies not in exclusion, but in the beautiful diversity of its people — Black and white, rich and poor, urban and rural, workers and farmers, immigrants and the forgotten — we were hugely inspired by his message,” said Ramaphosa, who was a key negotiator in the end to the apartheid system.
Felix Tshisekedi, president of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, praised Jackson as a peacemaker and humanitarian.
“Your mourning is also ours. You have lost a father, a husband, a brother. The world has lost a pastor, a champion, a mender of bridges. Africa has lost a faithful, loving son,” Tshisekedi said.
Since his death last month, Jackson’s family and allies have honored the late reverend with commemorations, community service and demonstrations they say continue his work.
Mourners first honored Jackson as he lay in repose in Chicago last month. The late reverend then lay in state at the South Carolina Capitol. Jackson grew up in segregated Greenville, South Carolina. As a high schooler, he led fellow students into a protest that desegregated a local library, starting a lifetime of civil rights leadership.
Services honoring Jackson in Washington, D.C., were postponed after a request for him to lie in honor at the U.S. Capitol was denied. House Republican leadership cited the precedent that only former presidents and senior generals regularly receive the privilege.
Jackson’s allies have emphasized the forcefulness of his message and convictions.
“He maintained an intense relationship with the political order, not because presidents were white or Black, but the demands of our message, the demands of speaking to the least of these, those who were disinherited, the dispossessed, the disrespected, demanded not Democratic or Republican solutions, but demanded a consistent, prophetic voice,” said Jesse Jackson Jr., the late reverend’s eldest son and a former congressman seeking to win back his seat in Congress in this fall’s elections.
Fraternity brothers salute him at PUSH headquarters
Jackson’s mentees also organized efforts to continue his civil rights activism.
“We’re in a global moment where peace in the world is in jeopardy, where we just have bombs being dropped carelessly, killing children, innocent victims of political actions,” said the Rev. Janette Wilson, a longtime senior adviser to Jackson and executive director at Rainbow PUSH Coalition.
“When the government cuts SNAP benefits and you have millions of children and families who will be food insecure, I think you have to tell them that we’re fighting for you.”
On Thursday, the headquarters hosted a series of events that celebrated Jackson’s life, including a memorial service for several hundred members of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity Inc., of which Jackson was a member.
That same night, the chamber hosted a reunion for Rainbow PUSH alumni to commemorate the late reverend and his years of activism.
They celebrated Jackson’s life and reminisced about his dual presidential bids; his globe-trotting activism as an anti-apartheid activist and hostage negotiator; and his evangelism for a Christianity that emphasized justice for all and support for the downtrodden.
Reverend’s family expected in Alabama for voting rights march
On Sunday, members of the Jackson family and many of Jackson’s mentees will travel to Selma, Alabama, to commemorate the “Bloody Sunday” protest marches when civil rights activists were beaten by police on the Edmund Pettus Bridge in 1965.
Jackson himself often attended the same anniversary march.
“Selma has always stood for the basics of what civil rights is, what we are debating in policy,” said Jimmy Coleman, a longtime aide to Jackson and native of Selma. “He was always focused on what we needed in terms of policy in any given political moment, and that’s what the march represents.”
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