On Tuesday, we lost a dear friend and mentor.
I met the Rev. Jesse Jackson in the late 1970s as I was running a youth sports program, and his son Yusef was one of my kids. I later reconnected when I managed a bank branch at 87th and Stony Island and he came to protest, only to find I was there, and he sent the protesters home. Over the many years to follow, he became a mentor, and as I progressed through my career, he would help me navigate a world from a corporate lens, as it wasn’t built with a poor Black kid from Englewood in mind. There were times we disagreed, but there is not a single doubt that I have been afforded opportunities that only came about as a result of his tireless advocacy for all of us.
When I last saw him healthy, he gave me a picture of him and the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. that he signed, saying, “George, keep the faith.” As I fought for 15 years in a row to convince my employer to continue to support Rainbow PUSH, I was reminded that it really is about “keeping the faith” because, once you lose faith, you’ve got nothing else to lose.
When I start to slide sideways, I look at the picture, and I straighten my back, hold my head erect and muster the will to “keep the faith.” I will continue to miss him.
My prayers go out to the family, and I’ll always cherish those times when we would connect.
Rest in peace, Reverend.
— George Wright, CEO, Chicago Cook Workforce Partnership
Jackson’s vision and legacy
Without the Rev. Jesse Jackson’s nonstop fight for voting rights since the 1960s, including during his run for president in 1984 and in 1988, we wouldn’t have had the election of a Black president sooner than many of us of color ever thought, when Barack Obama was overwhelmingly elected in 2008 as our first Black president of the United States of America.
For me, as a young brown man of Mexican descent, seeing Jackson run for president in the ’80s, when I was still a college student, made me realize that Americans of color, within and outside my community, could actually get prominent national recognition in the world of politics.
I will never forget seeing on television Jackson’s tears of pride for the Black community and for the nation as Obama and his family celebrated his 2008 victory with our Chicagoland community at Grant Park on that unforgettable Nov. 4 night.
As someone born in the early ’60s who came of age in the ’70s and and ’80s, I cannot help but profoundly appreciate and recognize the robust historical bridge that Jackson constructed and represented between the journey and legacy of the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the premise and promise of Obama.
Through such an inspiring bridge, by keeping hope alive from the late 20th century into the 21st century, Jackson’s moral vision for a better society, including his ongoing belief in a rainbow coalition that truly captures the multicultural American society that we have always been, promises to nurture a better 21st century America for new generations.
— Alejandro Lugo, Park Forest
Who keeps the fight going?
With the loss of the Rev. Jesse Jackson, Chicago and the nation mourn a civil rights titan. But beyond the grief lies an urgent question: Who picks up the mantle?
The battles Jackson fought are far from won. The Black unemployment rate remains significantly higher than the national average, and the racial wealth gap is widening, not shrinking. Yet, looking at the current landscape, there is no apparent heir with the visibility or force of personality to challenge corporate America and the government the way Jackson and his mentor the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. did.
Perhaps that is the point. The challenges of modern systemic racism and economic inequality have become too complex for a single leader to solve. We cannot wait for another icon to emerge from the history books. We must draw from Jackson’s own philosophy: “Never look down on anybody unless you’re helping him up.”
The next phase of civil rights won’t be led by one man at a podium, but by a society that finally chooses empathy and collective humanity over division.
— Glenn Eden, Chicago
Rename park in his honor
I grew up in the 5th Ward in Hyde Park in the 1960s and ’70s, and I never gave the name Jackson Park much thought. I just loved going there and always marveled at having such a beautiful place within walking distance of my home.
Unfortunately, back then, schools did not teach us all the shameful stories of our country’s past, and I only became aware of the fact that the park was named after a terrible man, President Andrew Jackson, much later — through my own reading of history.
When the Rev. Jesse Jackson was still alive, I wrote several letters to Chicago officials urging them to rename the park in his honor and to do so as a tribute to him while he was still living. Well, that opportunity is now gone, which is a shame.
But it is never too late to do the right thing! I do not need to go over all the good that Jackson did for Chicago and the country. Nor do I need to remind readers of the atrocities committed by the president for whom the park is named.
It is past time to remove the stain of President Jackson from that beautiful place and organize a celebration for the renaming of Jackson Park to Jesse Jackson Park!
— Jonathan G Steinhoff, Portland, Oregon
Making news for the cause
It seems only appropriate that the Rev. Jesse Jackson would pass during Black History Month. In death, much as in life, the outspoken and controversial civil rights leader always seemed to know how to grab the headlines while drawing everyone’s attention to his cause.
— Bob Ory, Elgin
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