American civil rights icon, the Reverend Jesse Jackson, has died at the aged of 84 following a long illness.
The advocate who battled alongside Dr Martin Luther King Jr in the 1960s, went on to have a long career of advocacy and political campaigning.
Jackson was diagnosed with neuromuscular disease progressive supranuclear palsy, a condition similar to Parkinson’s disease, a few years ago. He died surrounded by his family.
“It is with profound sadness that we announce the passing of Civil Rights leader and founder of the Rainbow PUSH Coalition, the Honorable Reverend Jesse Louis Jackson, Sr.,” said a statement from the organization on Instagram. “He died peacefully on Tuesday morning, surrounded by his family.”
Jackson was a Democratic candidate for President of the USA in the 1980s, a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom – the USA’s highest civilian honour, and one of the most recognisable Black activists of the 20th century.
His career saw him speak out for many marginalised groups of people in society including LGBTIQA+ people.
In 1985 he founded the Rainbow Coalition that brought together racial minorities, women and LGBTIQA+ people, noting that the drivers of discrimination are common across all groups.
He spoke any many major gay rights rallies in the USA including the 1993 March on Washington where he appeared alongside RuPaul, Martina Navratilova and Eartha Kitt.
“We share the desire for life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness, equal protection under the law,” he told the crowd of more than 500,000 who had joined the march.
Jackson also spoke out HIV during the AIDS epidemic of the 1980s and 1990s when the US administration was slow to respond to the outbreak of the virus, and decades later voiced his support for marriage equality.
Born in Greenvile, South Carolina in 1941 as a youth he lived under the Jim Crow segregation laws. He attended university on a football scholarship, but at his first predominately white university he experienced racism and discrimination. He transferred to auniversit ythat had more Black students and graduated with a degree in theology.
He then attended a seminary and began working in the civil rights movement, he was ordained as a Baptist Minister in 1968.
He grew to be a significant figure in the USA’s civil rights movement. In 1983 he launched a campaign to become President of the United States ,becoming the second Black American after Shirley Chisholm to run for the office. At the Democratic Convention in 1984 he delivered his famous Rainbow Coalition speech where gay and lesbian people were mentioned at the event for the first time.
“America is not like a blanket—one piece of unbroken cloth, the same color, the same texture, the same size. America is more like a quilt: many patches, many pieces, many colors, many sizes, all woven and held together by a common thread. The white, the Hispanic, the black, the Arab, the Jew, the woman, the native American, the small farmer, the businessperson, the environmentalist, the peace activist, the young, the old, the lesbian, the gay, and the disabled make up the American quilt.” he famously said.
His bid to be the Democratic candidate was not successful, with the party choosing former Vice-President Walter Mondale to run against the incumbent Republican President Ronald Regan.
He ran a second time in 1988, among his policy commitments was an executive order to ban discrimination against gays and lesbians in federal agencies, the army, and to recognise gay couples for spousal benefits.
Michael Dukakis was chosen to be the candidate and while he considered asking Jackson to be his running mate, he opted for Senator Lloyd Bentsen instead. The election outcome saw the Republican party win a third term with Vice President George H. W. Bush ascending to the Presidency.
In 2012 Jackson applauded President Barrack’s Obama’s decision to support marriage equality.
HIs family has commented on his passing saying they hoped people would continue to fight for the values he lived by.
“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 said in a statement.
“We shared him with the world, and in return, the world became part of our extended family. His unwavering belief in justice, equality, and love uplifted millions, and we ask you to honor his memory by continuing the fight for the values he lived by.”
