Rev Jesse Jackson Sr. dead at 84, Jackson a renowned civil rights leader who marched with MLK...By Clevelandurbannews.com, Ohio's Black digital news leader
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Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com
CHICAGO, Illinois-The Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr., the civil rights leader who marched alongside the Rev. Dr Martin Luther King Jr., has died. He was 84 and died peacefully and surrounded by family, his family said in a statement.
Jackson was hospitalized for observation in November and diagnosed with supranuclear palsy. He had been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in 2017.
Born in Greenville, South Carolina, Jackson began his activism in the 1960s and founded the organizations that later merged to form the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition. Expanding his work into international affairs in the 1980s, he became a vocal critic of the Reagan administration and launched a presidential campaign in 1984. Initially viewed as a fringe candidate, he finished third for the Democratic nomination behind former vice president Walter Mondale and Senator Gary Hart. He continued his activism and mounted a second presidential bid in 1988, finishing as the runner‑up to Massachusetts governor Michael Dukakis.
Jackson did not seek the presidency again, but in 1990 he was elected as the District of Columbia's shadow senator, serving one term during the Bush and Clinton administrations. Although initially critical of President Bill Clinton, he later became a supporter. Jackson hosted Both Sides with Jesse Jackson on CNN from 1992 to 2000. A critic of police brutality, the Republican Party, and conservative policies, he was widely regarded as one of the most influential African‑American activists of his era. He cried in 2008 when Barack Obama was elected the first Black president of the United States.
Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, the most-read Black digital newspaper and blog in Ohio and the Midwest. Tel. 216-659-0473. Email-editor@clevelandurbannews.com.
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