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By Khaleda Rahman
National Correspondent
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The eldest son of Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr. took a swipe at the former Democratic presidents who paid tribute to his father during a memorial service on Friday.
"I listened for several hours to three United States presidents who do not know Jesse Jackson," 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 midterm elections, said on Saturday at Jackson's final memorial service at the Rainbow PUSH Coalition’s headquarters on the South Side of Chicago.
"He maintained a tense relationship with the political order, not because the presidents were white or Black, but the demands of our message, the demands of speaking for the least of these—those who are disinherited, the damned, the dispossessed, the disrespected—demanded not Democratic or Republican solutions, but demanded a consistent, prophetic voice that at no point in time sold us out as a people."
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Newsweek has contacted the Jackson family for comment via an email to the Rainbow PUSH Coalition sent outside regular business hours.
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The Context
Jackson died last month at age 84 after battling a rare neurological disorder that affected his mobility and ability to speak.
In a series of speeches on Saturday, the late reverend’s children, civil rights leaders and two presidents of African nations said the best way to honor his legacy was to continue his advocacy for universal human rights and economic justice. It came after former presidents Barack Obama, Joe Biden and Bill Clinton spoke at a larger celebration honoring the late civil rights leader on Friday.
At a press conference in February, Jackson's eldest son had asked for attendees to focus on Jackson's legacy and said "do not bring your politics" to memorial services.
What To Know
At Friday's service, Obama said Jackson’s presidential runs in the 1980s set the stage for other Black leaders, including his own election in 2008 and reelection in 2012.
In his speech, he said he was grateful to Jackson for providing a "legacy of hope" in contrast with the current Republican leadership in Washington.
"We are living in a time when it can be hard to hope," he said. "Each day, we wake up to some new assault to our democratic institutions. Another setback to the idea of the rule of law, an offense to common decency. Every day you wake up to things you just didn’t think were possible."
Obama also took aim at President Donald Trump, without mentioning him by name.
"Each day, we’re told by those in high office to fear each other and to turn on each other, and that some Americans count more than others, and that some don’t even count at all," he said. "Everywhere we see greed and bigotry, being celebrated and bullying and mockery masquerading as strength."
Obama said Jackson inspired people to take a harder path, saying his voice "calls on each of us to be heralds of change."
Biden said he and Jackson "came up together as leaders in the Democratic Party," adding that while they had "some different views," they never disagreed on race.
Former President Bill Clinton also spoke at Friday's service. He said Jackson made him a better president "because he was always pushing things and he knew that change came from the outside in and sometimes from the inside out."
Clinton said he was attending "more as a friend than a former president. He was my friend when I needed him, and I ask you to ask yourself how you can do more by being a better friend."
What People Are Saying
Yusef Jackson, one of Jackson’s sons and president of the Rainbow PUSH Coalition, said on Saturday: "It is appropriate that we respect this season of grief. However, it is also appropriate to honor him by stepping up, to step out, and continue his work by answering his call to serve."
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."
Former president Barack Obama wrote on X, alongside a short clip from his speech: "Reverend Jesse Jackson called on each of us to be heralds of change, to be messengers of hope; to step forward and say 'Send me' wherever we have a chance to make an impact. How fortunate we were that Jesse Jackson answered that call. What a great debt we owe to him."
This article includes reporting by The Associated Press
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