The US civil rights leader Jesse Jackson is to step down down as head of the Chicago-based Rainbow PUSH Coalition he founded.
The organisation announced on Friday that the civil rights leader and two-time presidential candidate would be celebrated this weekend at the coalition’s annual convention.
“Reverend Jesse Jackson is officially pivoting from his role as president of Rainbow PUSH Coalition. His commitment is unwavering, and he will elevate his life’s work by teaching ministers how to fight for social justice and continue the freedom movement,” the organisation said.
“Rev Jackson’s global impact and civil rights career will be celebrated this weekend at the 57th annual Rainbow PUSH Coalition convention, where his successor will be introduced.”
Jackson, 81, has been a leader of the US civil rights movement since the 1960s. He fought for the rights of Black Americans and other minorities alongside his mentor Martin Luther King Jr and was present when King was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1968.
Jackson stood with the family of George Floyd at a memorial for the Black man murdered in 2020 by a white police officer, whose death forced a national reckoning with police brutality and racism. He also participated in Covid vaccination drives to battle hesitancy in Black communities.
In a weekly broadcast on Saturday, Jackson said he would “make a transition pretty soon”, reminding viewers that he had been active in the movement for 64 years, and said the new president would speak at the coalition’s annual convention this weekend.
The announcement of Jackson’s retirement from his leadership role follows several health afflictions in recent years.
Jackson announced in 2017 that he had Parkinson’s disease, which constrains movement and gets progressively worse with time. In 2021, he was taken to hospital after testing positive for Covid, and again after falling and hitting his head.
The Rainbow PUSH Coalition is a merger between People United to Save Humanity, a group Jackson founded in 1971 to continue King’s work, and a coalition he formed after his first unsuccessful run for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1984.
Jackson ran again in 1988, winning several primaries and garnering momentum from black voters and white liberals, but ultimately failed to become the first Black presidential nominee from a major party.
Santita Jackson, one of his daughters, said in an interview that her father would not be vanishing. “While the flesh may not be willing, the spirit is”, she said, adding that she hoped her father would provide a living history.
“Dr King gave him his assignment and he’s been faithful to it in every iteration of his life. Many people have said Dr King was the architect and Rev Jackson was the builder.”
English (US)