Breaking: Civil rights icon Jesse Jackson is dead

Jesse Jackson, one of the most influential civil rights leaders in U.S. history and a two-time contender for the presidency, has passed away at the age of 84.

Jackson, who disclosed in 2017 that he had Parkinson’s disease, died on Tuesday surrounded by his family, CBS News reported.

A close ally of Martin Luther King Jr., Jackson witnessed King’s assassination in Memphis in April 1968, an event he later described as “traumatizing” and pivotal in shaping his lifelong fight for justice.

Over his decades-long career, Jackson championed economic and political empowerment for minorities. He led Operation Breadbasket, the economic arm of King’s Southern Christian Leadership Conference, before founding People United to Serve Humanity (Operation PUSH) in 1971.

He later merged this organization with the National Rainbow Coalition to form the Rainbow PUSH Coalition, advocating for civil and political rights until stepping down as president in 2023.

Jackson made history as the second Black Democrat to mount a credible campaign for the U.S. presidency, following Shirley Chisholm in 1972. In his first campaign in 1984, he captured 18% of the primary votes, finishing third behind Gary Hart and Walter Mondale. Four years later, in 1988, he increased his support to 29% of the vote, winning 13 primaries and caucuses, finishing behind only Michael Dukakis.

Renowned for his eloquence, Jackson used his platform to speak for the marginalized. At the 1984 Democratic National Convention, he declared: “My constituency is the desperate, the damned, the disinherited, the disrespected and the despised.” In 1988, he added: “Politics can be a moral arena where people come together to find common ground.”

Jesse Jackson’s legacy endures as a symbol of courage, activism, and the ongoing struggle for equality in America.