Harris mourns Jackson: ‘One of America’s greatest patriots’

Former Vice President Harris paid tribute to civil rights leader Jesse Jackson after he died early Tuesday. “Reverend Jesse Jackson was one of America’s greatest patriots,” Harris wrote on social platform X. “He spent his life summoning all of us to fulfill the promise of America and building the coalitions to make that promise real.” Jackson, 84, died “peacefully” after battling the neurodegenerative disorder Progressive Supranuclear Palsy, his family said in a statement. “Our father was a servant leader — not only to our family, but to the oppressed, the voiceless, and the overlooked around the world,” the Jackson family wrote. “We shared him with the world, and in return, the world became part of our extended family.” A mentee of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., Jackson was one of the preeminent leaders of the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s. He later ran for the Democratic nomination for president in 1984 and 1988, finishing in third and second place in those primaries, respectively. Harris, the second Black politician to be a major party nominee along with former President Obama, wrote Tuesday that she had a “Jesse Jackson for President” bumper sticker on her car during her time in law school at the University of California Hastings. “As I would drive across the Bay Bridge, you would not believe how people from every walk of life would give me a thumbs up or honk of support,” she recalled. “They were small interactions, but they exemplified Reverend Jackson’s life work — lifting up the dignity of working people, building community and coalitions, and strengthening our democracy and nation.” She continued, “I was proud to partner with and learn from him on this work throughout my career, and I am so grateful for the time we spent together this January. Reverend Jackson was a selfless leader, mentor, and friend to me and so many others.” Jackson is survived by his wife, Jacqueline Lavinia Brown, and six children: Santita Jackson, former Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-Ill.), Jonathan Luther Jackson, Yusef DuBois Jackson, Jacqueline Lavinia Jackson Jr. and Ashley Jackson. Harris said that she and her husband, Doug Emhoff, are “praying for Jacqueline, their children and grandchildren, the Rainbow PUSH Coalition, and the millions of people across our country and around the world whose lives he impacted.” Jackson founded the Rainbow PUSH Coalition in 1996, an international human and civil rights organization. “Today and every day, we will carry forward his call to ‘Keep hope alive,” the former vice president concluded.