chicago — From jokes about his notorious stubbornness to tears over the loss of a parent, the Reverend Jesse Jackson Sr.’s adult children paid an emotional tribute Wednesday to honor the late civil rights icon’s legacy, a day after his death.
Jackson died Tuesday At his home in Chicago after fighting A.J A rare neurological disorder Which affected his ability to move and speak. Standing on the steps outside his old home in Chicago, five of his children, including U.S. Rep. Jonathan Jackson, remembered him not only for his decades-long civil rights work but also for his role as a spiritual leader and father.
“Our father is a man who dedicated his life to public service to obtain, protect and defend civil rights and human rights to make our nation better, to make the world more just, and to make our people better neighbors to each other,” his youngest son, Joseph Jackson, said, tearing up at times.
The family said that details of Jackson’s funeral arrangements will be announced at a later date, but services will begin next week, as he lies in state at the headquarters of the organization he founded, the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition in Chicago, which is supervised by his son, Joseph. Services will follow in a church large enough to accommodate the expected crowds.
Jackson rose to fame six decades ago as a disciple of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and joined a movement Voting rights march King drove from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama. King later sent Jackson to Chicago to launch Operation Breadbasket, an attempt by the Southern Christian Leadership Conference to pressure companies to hire black workers.
Jackson was with King on April 4, 1968, when the civil rights leader was killed.
Memories poured in around the world for Jackson, including flowers left outside the house where large photos of a smiling Jackson were placed. But his children said he was a family man first.
“Our father took fatherhood very seriously,” said his oldest son, Santita Jackson. “It was his job to preserve it.”
His children’s musings were poetic in the late civil rights icon’s style, filled with prayers, tears and some chuckles, including about the disagreements that occur when they grow up in a large, lively family.
His eldest son, Jesse Jackson Jr., Former member of CongressHe said his father’s funeral service would welcome everyone, “Democrats and Republicans, liberals and conservatives, rightists and leftists — because his life is broad enough to cover the full range of what it means to be an American.”
The family just asked those in attendance to be respectful.
“If his life becomes a turning point in our national political discourse, amen,” he said. “His last breath is not his last.”