User:Informant16/sandbox/Jesse Jackson

Jesse Louis Jackson (né Burns; born October 8, 1941) is an American political activist, Baptist minister, and politician. He is the father of former U.S. Representative Jesse Jackson Jr. and current Representative Jonathan Jackson.

Jackson began his activism career as a protégé of Martin Luther King, Jr. and founded the organizations that merged to form Rainbow/PUSH. Extending his activism into international matters beginning in the 1980s, Jackson became a critic of the Reagan administration and launched a presidential campaign in 1984. Initially seen as a fringe candidate, Jackson finished in third-place behind former Vice President Walter Mondale and Senator Gary Hart. He continued his activism for the next three years, and mounted a second bid for the White House in 1988. Exceeding expectations once again, Jackson finished as the runner-up to Governor of Massachusetts Michael Dukakis.

Jackson never sought the presidency again, but served as a shadow U.S. senator for the District of Columbia from 1991 to 1997. Initially a critic, he became a supporter of President Bill Clinton. Jackson hosted Both Sides with Jesse Jackson on CNN from 1992 to 2000. Jackson has been a critic of police brutality, the Republican Party, and conservatism, and is regarded as one of the most influential African-American activists of the 21st Century.

International activism

Jackson's influence extended to international matters in the 1980s and 1990s. In 1983, he traveled to Syria to secure the release of a captured American pilot, Navy Lt. Robert Goodman, who was being held by the Syrian government. Goodman had been shot down over Lebanon while on a mission to bomb Syrian positions in that country. After Jackson made a dramatic personal appeal to Syrian President Hafez al-Assad, Goodman was released. The Reagan administration was initially skeptical about Jackson's trip, but after Jackson secured Goodman's release, Reagan welcomed Jackson and Goodman to the White House on January 4, 1984. This helped to boost Jackson's popularity as an American patriot and served as a springboard for his 1984 presidential run. In June 1984 Jackson negotiated the release of 22 Americans being held in Cuba after an invitation by Cuban president Fidel Castro.

On the eve of the 1991 Persian Gulf War, Jackson made a trip to Iraq to plead with Saddam Hussein for the release of foreign nationals held there as a "human shield", securing the release of several British and 20 American individuals.

In 1997, Jackson traveled to Kenya to meet with Kenyan President Daniel arap Moi as United States President Bill Clinton's special envoy for democracy to promote free and fair elections. In April 1999, during the Kosovo War, he traveled to Belgrade to negotiate the release of three U.S. POWs captured on the Macedonian border while patrolling with a UN peacekeeping unit. He met with then-Yugoslav president Slobodan Milošević, who later agreed to release the three men.

His international efforts continued into the 2000s. On February 15, 2003, Jackson spoke in front of over an estimated one million people in Hyde Park, London at the culmination of the anti-war demonstration against the imminent invasion of Iraq by the U.S. and the United Kingdom. In November 2004 Jackson visited senior politicians and community activists in Northern Ireland in an effort to encourage better cross-community relations and rebuild the peace process and restore the governmental institutions of the Belfast Agreement.

In August 2005 Jackson traveled to Venezuela to meet Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, following controversial remarks by televangelist Pat Robertson that implied that Chávez should be assassinated. Jackson condemned Robertson's remarks as immoral. After meeting with Chávez and addressing the Venezuelan Parliament, Jackson said there was no evidence that Venezuela posed a threat to the U.S. He also met representatives from the Venezuelan African and indigenous communities. In 2013, Jackson attended Chávez's funeral. He told Wolf Blitzer that "democracies mature" and noted that the first fifteen American presidents owned slaves (excluding John Adams and John Quincy Adams), clarifying that the US had come "a mighty long way" since this time.

In 2005 Jackson was enlisted as part of the United Kingdom's Operation Black Vote, a campaign Simon Woolley ran to encourage more of Britain's ethnic minorities to vote in political elections ahead of the 2005 General Election.

In 2009 Jackson served as a speaker for the International Peace Foundation on the topic "Building a culture of peace and development in a globalized world". He visited multiple locations in Malaysia, including the Institute of Diplomacy and Foreign Relations of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and in Thailand, including NIST International School in Bangkok.

1984 presidential campaign

Main article: Jesse Jackson presidential campaign, 1984

Jackson in 1983

In May 1983, Jackson became the first African-American man since Reconstruction to address a joint session of the Alabama Legislature, where he said it was "about time we forgot about black and white and started talking about employed and unemployed." Art Harris saw Jackson as "testing the waters for a black presidential candidacy down South". In June, Jackson delivered a speech to 4,000 black Baptist ministers in Memphis bemoaning the fact that only 1 percent of American public officials were African-American despite blacks making up 12 percent of the population; the crowd responded with chants for him to "Run". Jackson's address to the National Congress of American Indians and touring of southern Texas to test his appeal among Hispanics fueled speculation he would run for president.

On November 3, 1983, Jackson announced his campaign for President of the United States in the 1984 election, becoming the second African American (after Shirley Chisholm) to mount a nationwide campaign for president as a Democrat. Jackson's candidacy divided support among black politicians, and even prominent African-Americans such as Coretta Scott King, who supported his right to run, refrained from endorsing him due to their belief he would not win the nomination. Among black office-holders, Jackson received the support of former Mayor of Atlanta Maynard Jackson, and Mayor of Newark Kenneth A. Gibson. Jackson entered the race after most prominent Democrats, such as Senator Gary Hart, and former Vice President Walter Mondale. In December, Jackson received the endorsement of National Baptist Convention, USA, Inc. chairman T. J. Jemison, and lost the endorsement of the Alabama Democratic Conference, the largest black political organization in Alabama, to Mondale.

In January, Jackson participated in the first Democratic debate in Hanover, New Hampshire. Although Jackson campaign issues coordinator Frank Watkins said the campaign did not "have to spend but a moment's time on how to utilize TV, because he understands that better than any of the other candidates and most of their media advisers", his performance was nonetheless criticized for being "either wrong or uninformed". Neither Jackson or Senator Fritz Hollings campaigned prolifically in Iowa ahead of the Iowa caucuses, which was won by Mondale. Jackson took part in the February 24 League of Women Voters-sponsored debate, and The New York Times wrote that Jackson "provided the most dramatic exchange of the 90-minute program when Barbara Walters, the ABC News interviewer who was the moderator, asked him if he had made anti-Semitic statements, including referring to Jews as 'Hymies.'" Hart defended Jackson as having "no derogatory feelings in his soul", and went on to win the New Hampshire primary.

As February closed, Jackson announced his supporters would file a lawsuit against state election rules that he deemed as being racially motivated, specifically targeting "dual registration" and "second primaries". Jackson, Mondale, and Hart took part in the March 28 debate, where Jackson interjected as Mondale and Hart argued over Central American policy. Jackson's reply, according to Howell Raines, "won him the only bursts of applause from an audience of 200 people at the Low Memorial Library who witnessed what was almost certainly the most tense of the debates." Jackson won the April 15 primary in his home state of South Carolina with 34.4 percent of the vote, receiving double the amount of delegates as Mondale and Hart. At the start of May, Jackson won the District of Columbia and Louisiana primaries. More Virginia caucus-goers supported Jackson than any other candidate, but Mondale won more Virginia delegates.

Jackson received the most black support of any candidate in the Georgia, Alabama and Florida primaries, where massive registration drives targeted at black voters led to a 69 percent increase in voter turnout from 1980 in Georgia and Alabama. A March 1984 Washington Post-ABC News poll found Jackson in third place with 20 percent support, behind Mondale and Hart with 39 and 32 percent. "By achieving unexpected success in some early primaries and caucuses, Mr. Jackson has apparently unified and raised the expectations of black voters," Raines wrote before noting that his support was based "almost entirely on a minority vote" and pondering whether Jackson had the ability to reach other to white voters and if whites were willing to vote for black candidates. The Washington Post credited Jackson with drawing "thousands of black Americans into the political process for the first time", shaking the Democratic Party's status quo, and "inspiring black pride generally by his strong showing in many primaries and his performances in candidate debates." Chairman of the D.C. Democratic State Committee Theodis Gay said that Jackson's campaign "puts blacks in particular back in touch with an identity -- a feeling of self worth and of hope." Overall, Jackson received three quarters of the black vote in the Democratic primary. A New York Times/CBS News Poll found that black Democrats preferred Mondale to Jackson as the Democratic nominee by a margin of 5 to 3.

In May, Jackson complained that he had won 21% of the popular vote but was awarded only 9% of the delegates. He afterwards stated that he had been handicapped by party rules. While Mondale (in the words of his aides) was determined to establish a precedent with his vice presidential candidate by picking a woman or visible minority, Jackson criticized the screening process as a "p.r. parade of personalities". He also mocked Mondale, saying that Hubert Humphrey was the "last significant politician out of the St. Paul–Minneapolis" area. In the June 5 primaries, Jackson ran third behind Mondale and Hart in each state, and Mondale's victories left him with enough delegates to be considered the presumptive nominee. Mondale signaled his desire to telephone both Hart and Jackson for party unity. Jackson, in an address to supporters at the Operation PUSH headquarters, said that fairness had not been achieved and stated his entitlement to both helping choose Mondale's running mate and his cabinet in the event he defeated Reagan in November. On July 4, Jackson and Mondale met at the Radisson Muehlebach Hotel for over two hours. Mondale called the meeting "successful" while Jackson said it was "not complete because there are unresolved matters", though he stated that he expected to support Mondale if he was the nominee. Mondale ruled out Jackson as a running mate, citing "sufficient differences between Reverend Jackson and myself".

Jackson addressed the 1984 Democratic National Convention, which notably featured an apology alluding to his comments considered derogatory to Jews and "answered the longstanding question of his loyalty to the party in the general election."

Even in our fractured state, all of us count and all of us fit somewhere. We have proven that we can survive without each other. But we have not proven that we can win and progress without each other. We must come together.

As the convention continued, Jackson's proposals to ban runoff primaries, decrease defense spending, and pledge the US would not use nuclear weapons first were voted down from the party platform. In spite of this, Jackson reiterated his support for the Democrats, saying that while they could afford to lose the vote, they could not afford to "avoid raising the right questions. Our self respect and our moral integrity were at stake. Our heads are perhaps bloody, but unbowed. Our back is straight and our vision is clear." On August 29, Jackson met with Mondale again and afterward declared that he had "embraced the mission and support the Mondale-Ferraro candidacy with great fervor" but also that he would "always reserve the right to challenge" Mondale. By September, Jackson had introduced Mondale to the National Baptist Convention and the Congressional Black Caucus, and had gone from a political liability to "mostly a plus for the Democratic ticket, with few minuses." Mondale was defeated by Reagan in a landslide in the general election, and Thomas Cavanagh of the Joint Center for Political Studies noted that all black challengers lost their elections despite expectations that Jackson's presidential candidacy would increase turnout in their favor.

Activity between presidential campaigns

In January 1985, concurrent with the second inauguration of Ronald Reagan, Jackson led several hundred supporters in a procession through downtown Washington to the grounds of Washington Monument. Jackson stressed that they needed to "keep alive the hopes of those who have fallen through the safety net" and challenge America "to protect the poor." In April, Jackson led a rally to protest the sale of an elderly farmer's form to Kearney Trust Co. outside the Clinton County Courthouse, where he called the gathering of farmers, union labor members, ministers and urban blacks from Kansas City "a rainbow coalition for economic justice." In June, Mayor of the District of Columbia Marion Barry introduced Jackson at the Winston Elementary School, where the latter opined that the "number one threat to the development of this generation is drugs."

In June 1986, Jackson delivered a commencement speech at Medgar Evers College, where he bemoaned that many of them were "experiencing an ethical collapse, a spiritual withdrawal, and escaping this reality through drugs, alcohol, sex without love, making unwanted babies and turning on each other with violence." Later that month, after basketball player Len Bias died from cardiac arrest stemming from "cocaine intoxication", Jackson and Representative Charles Rangel called for President Reagan to announce a nationwide war on drugs and seek increased funding of federal anti-drug education programs for American schools.

Amid the 1987 Chicago mayoral election, Jackson led an effort to get Chairman Paul G. Kirk to meet with the Cook County party leaders in Chicago to prevent the campaign's deterioration and avoid "dissension and splintering of the Democratic vote". Jackson and his supporters charged that Chicago Democrats would do anything to prevent Harold Washington from being re-elected, including campaigning for his Republican challenger.

1988 presidential campaign

Main article: Jesse Jackson 1988 presidential campaign

By early 1986, speculation began that Jackson would mount a second presidential run in 1988. In March 1987, Jackson formed an exploratory committee, making him the second potential candidate to do so, after Gary Hart. By April 1987, after previously having spent "all of half a day" in Iowa, Jackson had spent six days there throughout the year and moved his office to the rural part of the state instead of Des Moines. Jackson stressed that farmers and businessmen were akin to unemployed blacks in being negatively impacted by the economic policies of the Reagan administration. In July, Jackson met with former Governor of Alabama George Wallace for half an hour, calling the former segregationist "one of the most forward of any governor across the South in terms of the sharing of appointments with blacks and whites and women, and the tone of the administration had changed." The meeting was seen as Jackson testing support for a potential presidential bid. In September, Jackson attended a presidential candidates forum; He embraced the education, employment and defense issue positions of the Congressional Black Caucus and was greeted with chants of "Run Jesse Run" and "Win Jesse Win".

On October 11, 1987, Jackson announced his candidacy in the 1988 presidential election. At the time of his announcement, polling showed that Jackson led in 9 of the 12 Southern states that would hold primaries or caucuses in March and leading the Democratic field at 27 percent. In November, Jackson stated that Speaker of the California State Assembly Willie Brown would serve as his campaign chairman while political strategist Gerald Austin became his campaign manager. Later that month, Jackson announced he would stop his tour of Persian Gulf to attend the funeral of his friend, Mayor of Chicago Harold Washington, before changing his mind.

Jackson's campaign platform included a call the creation of a single-payer system of universal health care. higher taxes on the wealth amid defense spending cuts intended to reduce federal budget deficits and increase education, housing, welfare, and child care spending, ratifying the Equal Rights Amendment, reducing the supply and flow of drugs into communities, the creation of a domestic version of the World Bank called the "American Investment Bank" that would have the authority to sell government bonds to rebuild American infrastructure, suspending the development of new nuclear weapons in order to eventually ban them altogether, and "a very different relationship with the Soviet Union" involving a constructive partnership. In 1987 The New York Times described him as "a classic liberal in the tradition of the New Deal and the Great Society".

Jackson participated in the January 24 University of New Hampshire debate, where he was noted as the "one candidate who stayed away from most of the bitter exchanges" as he assailed the Reagan administration. In the February 8 Iowa caucus, Jackson came in fourth place behind Gephardt, Simon, and Dukakis, though he had quadrupled his support there from his 1984 bid. After a defeat in New Hampshire where Dukakis won by a wide margin, Jackson was seen as having done "well enough to argue that he has expanded his appeal to white voters." In the March 8 Super Tuesday contests, Jackson won Virginia, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. Party leaders saw the results as indicating the beginning of a long three-way race between Dukakis, Jackson, and Gore. As the month progressed, Jackson won Alaska, South Carolina, and Puerto Rico.

Jackson scored a surprising victory in the March 26 Michigan primary, defeating Dukakis in a landslide. This placed him as the front-runner of the race and spurred party officials into actively contemplating that he could end up being the party's nominee after all. Former Democratic Party chairman Robert S. Strauss said that Michigan win showed that Jackson "has a kind of power we hadn't expected" and "a real vulnerability" in the Dukakis campaign. Jackson participated in the March 28 debate at Fordham University, where he was the only candidate greeted with applause and stressed that government intervention could end homelessness. Mayor of New York City Ed Koch supported Gore and attacked Jackson, saying that Jews "would have to be crazy" to support his campaign and claimed Jackson lied about his role in the aftermath of the King assassination. Dukakis defeated Jackson in the New York primary, and a distant third place finish led Gore to drop out of the race. Koch would later apologize in a letter, expressing regret "if racial or religious friction resulted" from his comments about Jackson. Jackson narrowly lost the Colorado primary to Dukakis, and was defeated handily the following day by Dukakis in the Wisconsin primary. Jackson's showing among white voters in Wisconsin was significantly better than in 1984, but was also noticeably lower than pre-primary polling had predicted. The back-to-back victories established Dukakis as the front-runner. Jackson and Dukakis debated each other one-on-one for the first time in the April 23 debate. Throughout May, Dukakis won more contests, and Jackson's own staff admitted he no longer could win the nomination.

At the conclusion of the Democratic primary season, Jackson had captured 6.9 million votes and won 11 contests: Seven primaries (Alabama, the District of Columbia, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Puerto Rico, and Virginia) and four caucuses (Delaware, Michigan, South Carolina, and Vermont). The day after the final primaries, Jackson met with Dukakis and they discussed some of Jackson's platform such as a universal same day, on-site voter registration and changing the rules for the winner-take-all delegate allocation. Jackson reasoned that he deserved consideration by Dukakis as a potential running mate. Dukakis agreed, but added that Jackson was of no "special or greater consideration" simply for coming in second place in the contests. Polling in April found a Dukakis-Jackson ticket would defeat Vice President George H. W. Bush, but that both would be defeated by Bush if they were the party's nominee. Dukakis picked Senator Lloyd Bentsen as his running mate, and Jackson responded that Dukakis had the right to use an approach "making a strategic move to solidify his organization" and that his strategy was to "keep hope alive, to keep focus in our campaign, to keep our delegates and supporters, disciplined detail and full of hope, to put forth the very best expression we can of support on Wednesday, July 20, at nomination time." The dispute between Jackson and Dukakis led the former to suggest former President Jimmy Carter would have to mediate their conflict, and they did not reach an agreement until shortly before the opening of 1988 Democratic National Convention. After Dukakis was nominated, Jackson appeared with Bentsen and Dukakis at a loyalty breakfast where Dukakis told Jackson's supporters that they needed them. By September, former members of Jackson's campaign became involved in a dispute with the Dukakis campaign and Michigan Democratic Party to "obtain additional jobs, power and money".

According to a November 1987 New York Times article, "Most political analysts give him little chance of being nominated – partly because he is black, partly because of his unentrenched liberalism." Jackson's campaign was also interrupted by allegations regarding his half-brother Noah Robinson Jr.'s criminal activity. Jackson had to answer frequent questions about Noah who was often called "the Billy Carter of the Jackson campaign". But his past successes made him a more credible candidate, and he was both better financed and better organized than in 1984. The Washington Post noted that while Jackson's support "continued to flow predominantly from black districts", his support among white voters allowed him to "claim that he is more than a one-race candidate. Perhaps more to the point, no other candidate was able to generate anything like the total support that Mr. Jackson did." Jackson once again exceeded expectations as he more than doubled his previous results, prompting R.W. Apple of The New York Times to call 1988 "the Year of Jackson".

Later political activities

1990s

Jackson with Maude Barlow

Following the arrest of Mayor of the District of Columbia Marion Barry, Jackson was under pressure to enter the mayoral race to replace Barry. While Jackson said he was not running for the position, he also said that he thought "that public servants should never say never, and they should never say forever." Jackson talked about running with his 1988 presidential campaign chairman Joel Ferguson, and the latter formally announced Jackson's decision not to enter the raise the following day. Jackson instead ran for office as "shadow senator" for the District of Columbia when the position was created in 1991 serving as such through 1997, when he did not run for reelection. This unpaid position was primarily a post to lobby for statehood for the District of Columbia.

In the mid-1990s Jackson was approached about being the United States Ambassador to South Africa but declined the opportunity in favor of helping his son Jesse Jackson Jr. run for the United States House of Representatives.

In 1990, Jackson attended a dinner honoring the 20th anniversary of The Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, where Bush spoke of the day an African-American would one day be president and teased Jackson by invoking him when mentioning his visit with children in ghettos: "Jesse. I'm talking about little kids. I'm not talking about 49-year-old guys. Let's not rush it."

In November 1991, Chairman of the Democratic National Committee Ron Brown reported that Jackson had told him that he would not enter the 1992 Democratic Party presidential primaries. A short time later, Jackson formally declared he would not mount a third presidential bid and called for the creation of "new democratic majority". His decision not to run caused concerns for the future of the Rainbow Coalition, which the New York Times wrote "has only carried political clout in the years when Mr. Jackson has run for President." Governor of Arkansas Bill Clinton insulted Jackson on an open television microphone and called Jackson to apologize. Jackson said focusing on the comments were unhelpful and noted that Clinton was the only one of the then-five Democratic presidential candidates who had not agreed to join Jackson on campaign trips highlighting housing, health and education issues. On April 26, 1992, Jackson and Clinton had a 40-minute meeting in the latter's hotel suite and emerged to announce that they were both committed to defeating President Bush in the general election. Asked if he was ready to endorse Clinton, Jackson said, "Well, if he wins the nomination of our party, he would be well on his way. We need a new President and we need a new direction. We cannot afford any more of what George Bush represents." After Clinton became the likely nominee, Jackson appealed to the Democratic Party's platform committee to neither "go with the flow on capital punishment" or "walk soft on right-to-work laws". Although Jackson promised to endorse the party's nominee, his comments were seen as directed toward Clinton. David S. Broder noted Jackson's lessened influence at the 1992 Democratic National Convention and contrasted him with Chairman Brown: "At almost the same moment that Jackson learned he could no longer hold the Democratic Party and its nominee hostage to his demands, Brown was showing he could carry the party and its convention in his hands."

Jackson was initially critical of Bill Clinton's moderate, "Third Way" policies. According to journalist Peter Beinart, Clinton was "petrified about a primary challenge from" Jackson in the 1996 election. But Jackson became a key ally in gaining African American support for Clinton and eventually became a close adviser and friend of the Clinton family. His son Jesse Jackson Jr. was elected to the United States House of Representatives from Illinois.

On August 29, 1993, Jackson joined gatherers at the Lincoln Memorial to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, walking arm-in-arm with United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Henry Cisneros and United States Attorney General Janet Reno.

In September 1996, Jackson visited rapper Tupac Shakur in the hospital after he was wounded in a drive-by shooting. Jackson said the real issue was "the violent culture we live in -- the survival of the fittest that too often calls for revenge", his remark being criticized by SFGATE as "off the mark" in characterizing Shakur as a victim of a violent society.

In 1997, Jackson backed Al Sharpton in his bid for Mayor of New York City, denouncing Alan Hevesi for refusing to support Sharpton in the event that he won the primary, calling it "the worst conceivable time for polarizing statements and positions by responsible leaders". Sharpton lost the Democratic primary to Ruth Messinger, who lost the general election to incumbent Rudy Giuliani. In March 2000, Jackson criticized Giuliani's handling of the Patrick Dorismond shooting, saying that there was "something that is not well about his response to unarmed people being shot by police." Mayoral spokesman Curt Ritter responded, "Jesse Jackson, Dov Hikind and Alan Hevesi have joined the political pile-on team being captained by Al Sharpton in the name of Hillary Clinton."

In 1998, Clinton's affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky became public, and his lying under oath about the affair led to an impeachment inquiry by the House. In an interview with The Washington Post, Jackson explained his opposition to Clinton's removal from office: "The punishment of impeachment does not correspond to the nature of Mr. Clinton's lack of candor. What he did does not fit the definition of high crimes; it was a little crime." On December 17, Jackson led a prayer vigil outside the U.S. Capitol for the purpose of increasing the visibility of those opposed to Clinton's possible impeachment. The House impeached Clinton the following day.

On May 2, 1999, during the Kosovo war, three US soldiers who had been held captive were released as a result of talks with Jackson. Jackson's negotiation was not sanctioned by the Clinton administration.

On November 18, 1999, seven Decatur, Illinois high school students were expelled for two years after participating in a brawl at a football game. The incident was caught on home video and became a national media event when CNN ran pictures of the fight. After the students were expelled, Jackson argued that the expulsions were unfair and racially biased. He called on the school board to reverse its decision.

2000s

Jackson outside the Florida Supreme Court, 2000

In March 1999, Jackson announced he would not be a candidate in the 2000 presidential election, stating his intent to continue championing the causes of education and health care reform and highlighting the "ongoing shame of our nation -- the explosive growth of the prison-industrial complex." In August, Jackson criticized Republican Governor of Texas and presidential candidate George W. Bush as showing no leadership after the murder of James Byrd Jr. through not pushing any hate-crime bills. On March 1, 2000, Jackson endorsed Vice President Al Gore, saying that the latter brought "to the table a body of invaluable accomplishments as a former congressman, senator and vice president." Gore went on to secure the nomination, and Jackson addressed the 2000 Democratic National Convention.

Gore faced Bush in the general election, where the close race in Florida led to the Florida election recount to further examine the results. On November 10, Jackson attended a rally in West Palm Beach and called for the Justice Department to investigate the "widespread disgrace across this state", noting Palm Beach County had confusing and illegal ballots that failed to adhere to state laws mandating that voters make their choice to the right of the candidate's name. On December 5, Jackson joined Florida Black Caucus members in filing a civil rights suit charging that minority voters in Duval County were discarded at higher rates than those of whites. Jackson noted 27,000 votes from Duval County were not counted on Election Night and most of these votes came from black inner city neighborhoods. Gore conceded the election weeks later. Jackson responded to Bush's victory with plans for a national demonstration at federal buildings to coincide with the president-elect's inauguration and the birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr., which Jackson said would adhere to King's message of nonviolent civil disobedience to raise awareness of equality.

On January 20, 2001, Bill Clinton's final day in office, Clinton pardoned Congressman Mel Reynolds, John Bustamante, and Dorothy Rivers; Jackson had requested pardons for them. Jackson had also requested a pardon for his half-brother Noah Robinson who had been convicted of murdering Leroy Barber and sentenced to life imprisonment, but Clinton did not pardon Robinson on the grounds that Robinson had already submitted three pardon appeals, all of which the Justice Department had denied.

The 2000 recount would not be the last time Jackson clashed with Governor of Florida Jeb Bush. After Bush nominated Jerry Regier for the Department of Children & Families in 2002, Jackson joined Democrats who criticized a 1989 paper, which listed Reiger as co-chairman of the authoring group, that endorsed spanking to the point of bruises and welts and opposed married women having careers. Jackson said, "In some sense, Mr. Regier is an extension of Mr. Bush's ideology. These are his convictions and that's why he's going to stand by him." In June 2004, Jackson rebuked Bush for requesting counties purge felons from voting rolls, calling it "a typical South (tactic), denying the right to vote based on race and class." Bush called Jackson's comments "outrageous" and said the civil rights leader was "past his prime." In early 2005 Jackson visited Terri Schiavo's parents and supported their unsuccessful bid to keep her alive, which was also supported by Bush, making it one of the few times Jackson and Bush backed the same cause.

In a 2002 interview, Jackson said there was "a new America" and the world was abandoning the Jeffersonian democracy that coexisted with slavery in favor of "King democracy", named for his former mentor who "fundamentally changed democracy." In November, African Americans Against Exploitation Inc., which included Jesse Lee Peterson as a plaintiff, filed a lawsuit against Jackson alleging that he "intentionally misrepresented himself as an official of the African American race." Jackson responded that it was "a nuisance lawsuit with no basis in law or fact." That year, Jackson was a target of a white supremacist terror plot.

On September 1, 2003, Jackson was among those arrested for blocking traffic at Yale University as they showed their solidarity with striking clerical, dining hall and maintenance workers with Jackson being the first handcuffed. On June 23, 2007, Jackson was arrested in connection with a protest at a gun store in Riverdale, a low-income suburb of Chicago. He and others were protesting due to allegations that the gun store had been selling firearms to local gang members and was contributing to the decay of the community. According to police reports, Jackson refused to stop blocking the front entrance of the store and let customers pass. He was charged with one count of criminal trespassing.

Jackson at an anti-war rally in 2007 with Sean Penn

In February 2004, Jackson delivered an address at the John F. Kennedy School of Government, where he called for southern voters to turn away from the fears and despair that led to their support of Bush in 2000. Jackson also said the war-time credentials of John Kerry, the frontrunner for the Democratic presidential nomination, would make him a formidable opponent for Bush and urged those feeling powerless to get involved. Jackson addressed the 2004 Democratic National Convention. In the general election, Jackson traveled with Kerry, and stumped for him in battleground states. Kerry lost to Bush.

In 2005 the Federal Election Commission ruled that Jackson and the Democratic National Committee had violated electoral law and levied a $200,000 fine on them.

In March 2006 an African-American woman accused three white members of the Duke University men's lacrosse team of raping her. During the ensuing controversy, Jackson stated that his Rainbow/PUSH Coalition would pay for the rest of her college tuition regardless of the outcome of the case. The case against the three men was later thrown out and the players were declared innocent by the North Carolina Attorney General.

Jackson took a key role in the scandal caused by comedian Michael Richards's onstage racist tirade at the Laugh Factory in November 2006. Richards called Jackson a few days after the incident to apologize; Jackson accepted Richards' apology and met with him publicly as a means of resolving the situation. Jackson also joined Black leaders in a call for the elimination of the "N-word" throughout the entertainment industry.

In March 2007 Jackson declared his support for then-Senator Barack Obama in the 2008 Democratic Party presidential primaries. He later criticized Obama in 2007 for "acting like he's white" in response to the Jena 6 beating case. On July 6, 2008, during an interview with Fox News, a microphone picked up Jackson whispering to fellow guest Reed Tuckson: "See, Barack's been, ahh, talking down to black people on this faith-based... I want to cut his nuts off." Jackson was expressing his disappointment in Obama's Father's Day speech chastising absent Black fathers. Subsequent to his Fox News interview, Jackson apologized and reiterated his support for Obama. On November 4, Jackson attended the Obama victory rally in Chicago's Grant Park. In the moments before Obama spoke, Jackson was seen in tears.

In November 2009, the Congressional Black Caucus honored Jackson for the twenty-fifth anniversary of his 1984 presidential campaign. Speaking on Obama's health care reform proposal, Jackson said, "We even have blacks voting against the health care bill. You can't vote against health care and call yourself a black man." His comments were interpreted as a dig at Representative Artur Davis (D-AL), the only member of the caucus to vote against the proposal, and political observers stated that Jackson's criticism could benefit Davis, who was then a candidate in the 2010 Alabama gubernatorial election and positioning himself as a moderate Democrat. Davis lost the Democratic primary to Ron Sparks.

Early 2010s

Jackson in 2012

In August 2010, Jackson participated in the "Jobs, Justice and Peace" march in Detroit, which he said was held to show Obama and other leaders that Detroit needed a focused urban policy. Shannon Jones of World Socialist Web Site criticized the march as "little more than a campaign rally for the Democratic Party, which has overseen wholesale job and wage cuts in Detroit and nationally while escalating military violence around the world" and in actuality "a demonstration in support of the American ruling class drive, spearheaded by the Obama administration, to put in place a permanent lowering of wages and living conditions in the US."

In 2011, Wayne Barrett wrote that Obama's embrace of Sharpton had "as much to do with the president’s antipathy for three other black leaders—Jesse Jackson, Dr. Cornel West and Tavis Smiley—as it does with any genuine White House enthusiasm for the controversial New York preacher."

In 2012, Jackson commended Obama's 2012 decision to support gay marriage and compared the fight for marriage equality to the fight against slavery and the anti-miscegenation laws that once prevented interracial marriage. He favored federal legislation extending marriage rights to gay people.

Following the shooting of Trayvon Martin in February 2012, Jackson joined Martin's parents as they demanded the arrest of his killer George Zimmerman, and called for repealing stand-your-ground laws to discourage "vigilante" behavior. Zimmerman was arrested, and later acquitted of second-degree murder. Jackson responded to the acquittal by refusing to accept it and compared it to the acquittals in the cases of Emmett Till and Medgar Evers. Jackson called for protestors to do nothing that "would diminish the moral authority of Trayvon Martin as a martyr in this case" and for the Justice Department to file civil rights charges against Zimmerman. The Department of Justice concluded that there was not sufficient evidence of Zimmerman violating Martin's civil rights.

In July 2013, Jackson met with Marissa Alexander and called for Angela Corey to use her influence to get Alexander's 20-year sentence reduced. He contrasted Alexander's sentence with that of Zimmerman's acquittal: "A woman was not guilty of shooting or killing anyone is in jail for 20 years. A man who did kill someone is walking free. The gap is too great." In January 2015, Alexander was released from a Jacksonville jail under a plea deal that capped her sentence to the three years she had already served.

Jackson with Charlie Strong and George W. Bush in April 2014

The shooting of Michael Brown ignited unrest in Ferguson, Missouri. Jackson wrote an op-ed addressing the state of Ferguson where he declared that "there has been no significant urban, suburban, small town or rural policy to rebuild America" since Lyndon B. Johnson and that urban and rural communities "have significantly deteriorated during the past 46 years of neglect." In an MSNBC interview, Jackson likened the shooting to a state execution and requested the White House create a policy to address ills in black urban communities. Jackson marched to the site of Brown's shooting with other protestors and led them in prayer, warning them that they could "reshape an iron while it's hot, but don't destroy yourself in the process." After Robert McCulloch chose to not indict Brown's shooter Darren Wilson, Jackson requested the involvement of a federal grand jury in the Brown case.

In January 2015, Jackson participated in a panel discussion at Stanford University, where he called for Palo Alto residents to combat gentrification even if it meant marching to company headquarters in Silicon Valley, and met with Silicon Valley leaders. In June, after Dylann Roof killed nine people at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, Jackson and Sharpton joined Governor Nikki Haley, Senator Tim Scott, Mayor of Charleston Joseph P. Riley Jr. in attending funerals of the victims. In an op-ed, Jackson called the shooting "the result of institutionalised racism, centuries of dehumanisation and the current denial of economic and political equality of opportunity" and urged Obama, congress, governors, and state legislatures "to all put the same effort, resources and energy into ending the crime of racism, economic injustice and political denial throughout the nation."

Late 2010s

Jackson at the Islamic Society of North America convention in Chicago in September 2016

Jackson declined to endorse either Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders in the 2016 Democratic presidential primary, citing his longtime associations with both. After Clinton secured the nomination, Jackson endorsed her. In July, Republican nominee Donald Trump released a video condemning the police killings of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile. Jackson admitted the video contained "significant remarks" but faulted Trump for his past involvement in the birther movement and past rhetoric that had "helped to seed these clouds." Days before the election, Jackson cited several reasons for voters to support Clinton over Trump including the possible repeal of the Affordable Care Act and the appointment of U.S. Supreme Court justices and urged them to "join the right side of history". Trump defeated Clinton in the general election, and Jackson shortly thereafter wrote an op-ed for The Guardian expressing that Trump "must prove he is worthy of the office by immediately going to work uniting the country he has done so much to divide."

Jackson attended the Women's March on Washington, where he stated that both a half-century of civil rights and the right to vote had been threatened. In April, Jackson participated in the Miami, Florida Hispanicize conference, where he called efforts by the Trump administration to set up deportation camps "Germanesque" and denounced the more than 30 Hispanic-owned firms who put in a bid to construct the border wall. When he visited St. John Baptist Church in Orlando, Jackson stated his support for the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity investigating the suppression of minority voters, noting that between 1.3 and 1.7 million voters were ineligible to vote in Florida due to felony convictions. In September, Jackson delivered a speech at the Ministers March for Justice, saying in part, "Trump says you must be able to speak the language of English, (be) qualified and have a job skill. Jesus would not qualify to come in Trump’s country. (Trump) would not qualify to get into Jesus’ kingdom." After Colin Kaepernick was not signed by the NFL for kneeling during the National Anthem, and Trump denounced players who joined Kaepernick in kneeling in protest, Jackson urged a boycott of the NFL for as long "as their boycott of Colin Kaepernick continues" and espoused that Trump should instead focus on helping victims of Hurricane Maria.

In January 2018, Jackson delivered a sermon at a church in Fort Washington, Maryland where he accused Trump of being misleading and called him a "man of inherited wealth and privilege who seems to have no understanding of our situation." In September, Jackson attended the Angela Project Conference with Congressman John Yarmuth and Mayor of Louisville Greg Fischer, noting injustices in America such as the disproportionate amount of African-Americans imprisoned and wealth inequality. Jackson also said that both the Devil and Trump were temporary and would be outlasted by "the Lord."

Ahead of the 50th anniversary of King's assassination, Jackson wrote an op-ed for The New York Times reflecting on King's accomplishments and his continued relevance in current struggles. He asserted that those "who value justice and equality must have the will and courage to follow him."

In February 2019, after Jussie Smollett was reported to have been assaulted in a hate crime, Jackson called the attack an attempt at a "barbaric lynching". Although Trump condemned the assault, Jackson charged the president with emboldening bigots through his rhetoric and actions, warning of the revival of demeaning and bullying. Smollet was later charged with falsifying the attack, and Jackson was among those who wrote to the judge handling the case, requesting leniency for Smollet as he had already been "excoriated and vilified in the court of public opinion" and had his professional reputation "severely damaged."

After Trump attacked Congresswoman Ilhan Omar with multiple false claims, Jackson warned that Trump was "making people afraid of her, and it's going to produce violence", noting King's assassination came after he was "defamed" and "vilified by the government." Jackson and his son Jesse Jr. sent Trump a letter requesting that the latter pardon former Governor of Illinois Rod Blagojevich, the father-son pair declaring that they stood with the Blagojevich family "as they seek a full pardon for a father and husband that has served most of a sentence that was far longer than the offense deserved."

During the 2019 Venezuelan presidential crisis he delivered food to activists occupying the Venezuelan embassy in Washington, D.C.

In June, Jackson went to Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center to encourage inmates to vote as part of a voter registration drive in South Carolina with particular focus on students, seniors, and working-class residents. Months later, Jackson visited Paine College to further encourage voting, saying America was "being torn asunder by inviting Russia and China and Iran and others into the election process. The gap isn’t between black and white so much as it’s between the have and the have nots."

In November, Jackson spoke at the funeral of former Representative John Conyers.

2020s

Jackson (seated) with Lisa Ellis at a Democratic fundraising event in South Carolina in 2022.

In June 2019, as Biden prepared to deliver remarks for Rainbow PUSH in his capacity as a candidate in the 2020 Democratic Party presidential primaries, Jackson said he did not understand Biden's previous support for segregated school busing but believed "he’s changed" and expressed his opposition to states' rights. In March 2020, Jackson endorsed Bernie Sanders in the primary. Jackson said that Sanders made several commitments to him, and it was reported the civil rights leader requested Sanders pick an African-American woman as his running mate. Sanders dropped out of the race a month later, and Biden became the Democratic presidential nominee. As the 2020 election neared, Jackson opined that Trump had left "African Americans in the deepest hole with the shortest rope" and predicted "African Americans — and particularly African-American women — will vote overwhelmingly for Joe Biden." Biden defeated Trump in the general election, fulfilling Jackson's belief by winning the overwhelming majority of the black vote. Ahead of Biden's inauguration, Jackson wrote an op-ed calling for "an aspirational agenda – an agenda that reveals the scope of action needed to meet the challenges we face, and that provides hope and galvanizes support" and pressed for the president-elect to demonstrate bold action and leadership.

In June 2020, after the killing of Breonna Taylor, Jackson praised Mayor of Louisville Greg Fischer for announcing a review of police conduct and policies and criticized Senator Rand Paul for delaying a bill that would make lynching a hate crime. In September, Jackson and Jacob Blake's uncle Justin marched in Kenosha, Wisconsin and spoke at Grace Lutheran Church, where he condemned Blake and Taylor's shooting deaths. In October, Jackson met with the Taylor and Blake families and led a march with them in Evanston, Illinois.

After police officer Derek Chauvin murdered George Floyd, Jackson traveled to Minnesota and called for Michael O. Freeman to press charges against the four Minneapolis Police department officers involved in Floyd's death. Jackson said protests should continue "until something happens" and advocated for protestors to obey social distancing protocols in order to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Chauvin was convicted of Floyd's murder in April 2021. Jackson appeared with the Floyd family at a press conference shortly after the verdict, where he told attendees that they would have to "learn to live together as brothers and sisters and not die apart."

Jackson supported the withdrawal of United States troops from Afghanistan, calling it "long past time to end the folly in Afghanistan" and "long past time to start investing in the future of America’s children and in meeting the existential threat posed by climate change."

On August 3, 2021, Jackson and several others were arrested after protesting for Congress to end the filibuster, protect voting rights and raise the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour.

After the leak of the draft decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, Jackson compared the draft to Dred Scott v. Sandford as both were "preceded by a disingenuous campaign to urge citizens to respect the decisions of the court as grounded in law, not politics." Jackson predicted overturning Roe v. Wade would "spark fierce political battles over basic rights in the states, the Congress, the courts and on the streets." In June 2022, the Supreme Court overruled Roe in Dobbs v. Jackson.

Ahead of the 2023 State of the Union Address, Jackson wrote an op-ed calling for Biden "to lay out a plan – and to call the Congress to act" by extending the Child Tax Credit to low-income workers and the poor, making voter registration automatic, limiting big money in politics, and reviving the Voting Rights Act. On March 5, Jackson attended an event on the Edmund Pettus Bridge commemorating the fifty-ninth anniversary of Bloody Sunday and spoke with President Biden.

Personal life

Jackson at the 2012 Bud Billiken Parade

Jackson married Jacqueline Lavinia Brown (born 1944) on December 31, 1962 and together they have five children: Santita (1963), Jesse Jr. (1965), Jonathan Luther (1966), Yusef DuBois (1970), and Jacqueline Lavinia (1975).

Jackson's younger brother, Charles "Chuck" Jackson, was a singer with the vocal group The Independents and as a solo artist issued two albums in the late 1970s. Along with his songwriting partner and fellow producer, Marvin Yancy, he was largely responsible for launching the career of Natalie Cole.

In 1984, Jackson and Coretta Scott King, the widow of Martin Luther King Jr., sent letters to Florida governor Bob Graham asking him to halt the scheduled execution of James Dupree Henry, a black man convicted of killing Z. L. Riley, an Orlando based civil rights leader. Jackson met with Graham, but was unable to persuade him. Henry was executed on September 19, 1984.

Jackson had friendships with Ted Kennedy, Bernie Sanders, Aretha Franklin, Bobby Bland, Elijah Cummings, John Lewis, Maxine Waters, and Michael Jackson.

On Memorial Day, May 25, 1987, Jesse was made a Master Mason on Sight by Grand Master Senter of the Most Worshipful Prince Hall Grand Lodge of Illinois; thereby making him a Prince Hall Freemason.

In 2001, it was revealed Jackson had an affair with a staffer, Karin Stanford, that resulted in the birth of a daughter Ashley in May 1999. According to CNN, in August 1999, the Rainbow Push Coalition had paid Stanford $15,000 in moving expenses and $21,000 in payment for contracting work. A promised advance of an additional $40,000 against future contracting work was rescinded once the affair became public. This incident prompted Jackson to withdraw from activism for a short time. Jackson was paying $4,000 a month in child support as of 2001.

In September 2008, Jackson entered the Northwestern Memorial Hospital after feeling dehydration and stomach pains. Doctors told him he had viral gastroenteritis. In November 2017, Jackson was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease. In August 2021, he and his wife were hospitalized with COVID-19 at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago. On August 27, it was reported that he was transferred to a rehabilitation facility while his wife was transferred to the intensive care unit. On September 4, his wife was released from the hospital, while he continued to receive care for his Parkinson's disease.

Public image

In 1987, Donald Rheem called Jackson "one of the most successful black leaders in American history, with 25 years of public service as a self-styled country preacher pushing voter registration, inner-city economic development, and a moral message telling blacks to get off drugs and get on with a fulfilling life." Writing for The Harvard Crimson, David J. Barron observed that Jackson had "become the undisputed leader of Blacks partly on the strength of his call for young Blacks to recognize that despite their disadvantages they are 'somebody.'" Jackson is often described as a civil rights icon, and has been praised as a gifted orator. Jackson's 1980s presidential campaigns are seen as historic, and credited with increasing black voter turnout, exceeding expectations, and paving the way for the successful 2008 Barack Obama campaign. Donna Brazile, former Democratic National Committee Chairwoman, praised Jackson as helping "to enable a new generation of African Americans to serve" through his presidential campaign.

Herb Benham claimed Jackson last had "credibility" when he was involved with Southern Christian Leadership Conference, Operation PUSH, and marching with King, which he added was "so many decades ago that it makes the corporate-blackmailing, publicity-sniffing, knee-jerking Jackson seem as if he has had two lives -- one respectable and one not." Jackson has also been charged with exploiting racial divides for his gain, Tucker Carlson adding that people like Jackson and Sharpton "do not deserve to be called civil rights leaders" and "are hustlers and pimps who make a living off inflaming racial tensions." Larry Elder writes that Jackson, Sharpton, Farrakhan, and Bill Clinton have had careers that were predicated "on exaggerating the extent and the impact of anti-black white racism" and had each "earned a nice living promoting the bogus anti-black-white-racism-remains-a-serious-problem narrative." Jackson, a proponent of marriage, was accused of hypocrisy for fathering a child out of wedlock in an extramarital affair.

Relations with Jewish community

Jackson was criticized in the early 1980s for referring to Jews as "Hymies" and New York City as "Hymietown" in remarks to a black Washington Post reporter; "Hymie" is a pejorative term for Jews. He had mistakenly assumed the references would not be printed. Louis Farrakhan made the situation worse by issuing, in Jackson's presence, a public warning to Jews that "If you harm this brother [Jackson], it will be the last one you harm." During a speech before national Jewish leaders in a Manchester, New Hampshire synagogue, Jackson publicly apologized to Jews for the pejorative remarks, but did not denounce Farrakhan's warning. A rift between Jackson and many in the Jewish community endured at least through the 1990s.

Shortly after President Jimmy Carter fired U.N. Ambassador Andrew Young for meeting with Palestine Liberation Organization representatives, Jackson and other black leaders began publicly endorsing a Palestinian state, with Jackson calling Israel's prime minister a "terrorist" and soliciting Arab-American financial support. Jackson has since apologized for some of these remarks, but they badly damaged his presidential campaign, as "Jackson was seen by many conservatives in the United States as hostile to Israel and far too close to Arab governments."

According to a 1987 New York Times article, Jackson began attempting to improve his relationship with the Jewish community after 1984. In 2000, he was invited to speak in support of Jewish Senator and Vice Presidential candidate Joe Lieberman at the Democratic National Convention. Following the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting, the deadliest attack on the Jewish community in the United States, Jackson joined other clergy at Congregation Sukkat Shalom in Wilmette to honor the eleven victims, noting, "When nine black lives were lost at Charleston, rabbis were there for us. Now we are here for this community." On March 8, 2020, Jackson endorsed Jewish candidate Bernie Sanders for president.