The former president delivered a moving tribute, reflecting on Jackson’s lifelong fight for justice as leaders, activists, and mourners gathered in Chicago to celebrate his life and legacy.
By Rayna Reid Rayford
Essence
https://www.essence.com/
On Friday, thousands assembled to pay tribute to the late Rev. Jesse Jackson at his homegoing service in Chicago. The star-studded memorial brought three former Presidents together, Barack Obama, Joe Biden and Bill Clinton, alongside other notable figures, including Tyler Perry, Jennifer Hudson, Kamala Harris, Hillary Clinton, Rev. Al Sharpton, Cornel West, and NBA Hall of Famer Isiah Thomas.
Held at the House of Hope, the service was a reflection on the outsized impact the civil rights leader wielded on the American political landscape. It was truly fitting that Obama, whose own presidential campaign centered around the ideology of hope, was on hand to deliver a powerful tribute.
The message opened with a passage from the Book of Isaiah: “God is looking for a messenger. And the Lord asks, ‘Whom shall I send?’ And Isaiah replies, ‘Here I am, Lord. Send me.’” Obama invoked these words from the Bible to illustrate how Jackson spent his life constantly answering the call to serve, whenever the country was in need. “When the poor and the dispossessed, needed a champion, and a country needed healing,” Obama said, Jackson “stepped forward, again, and again, and again, and said, ‘Send me.’”
Obama went on to talk about Jackson spreading the message of hope around the world during the early 1980s and how this arc intersected with his own life. When Jackson mounted his first presidential campaign, Obama was a recent college graduate living in New York City, working to pay off student loans, recalling how he was inspired by the civil rights movement, but uncertain of what would be the best way for him to serve, admitting that he was “fighting off self-doubt,” despite being “full of good intentions.”
He recounted how many Black people were dismissive of Jackson’s chances. But the Democratic primary debate between Jackson, Walter Mondale and Gary Hart changed everything. “When that debate was over, I turned off that TV, and I thought that…Jesse hadn’t just held his own, he had owned that stage. He wasn’t an intruder, he wasn’t a pretender, he belonged on that stage.”
For a young Obama, that moment resonated deeply. “The message he sent to a 22-year-old child of a single mother, with a funny name, an outsider, was that maybe there wasn’t any place, any room where we didn’t belong.” Two decades later, Obama would go on to make history himself, finishing what Jackson had started to carve out that night in 1984, when he became the first Black president of the United States.
Describing how Jackson possessed a unique ability to build unity, Obama recounted, “In 1984, and then, again in 1988, Jesse didn’t just speak to Black folks, he spoke to white folks, and Latinos, and Asian Americans…he spoke to family farmers and environmentalists. He spoke to gay rights activists…and blue collar workers.” Delivering a message of belonging, the late activist declared how all of their voices and votes counted.
“He invited them to believe, he invited us to believe, in our own power, to change America for the better,” Obama stated. Indeed, the coalition on hand to celebrate his legacy was a mirror of the Rainbow Coalition Jackson built during his lifetime. Generations of civil rights leaders, clergy, politicians, and cultural figures whose lives were touched by Jackson’s work were in Chicago at the memorial. Their presences underscoring the alliance he was working to build to ensure that all Americans would be able to enjoy justice and opportunity in this country.
Speaking to the broader sobering political moment in the present, Obama admitted, “We are living in a time when it can be hard to hope.” Recognizing how it can be tempting to give into cynicism and ignore the threats to our democracy, he urged us to not take the road paved in complacency. “Reverend Jackson inspires us to take a harder path…to step forward and say, ‘Send me.’”
Because even though it may appear that there is still much to be done, there has been progress. Obama’s closing words in his powerful tribute were rooted in this call to action. “Wherever we have a chance to make an impact, whether it’s in our school, or our workplaces, or our neighborhoods, or our cities. Not for fame, not for glory, or because success is guaranteed, but because it gives our life purpose, because…if we don’t step up, no one else will,” voiced Obama, giving thanks. “How fortunate we were that Jesse Jackson answered that call. What a great debt we owe to him.”
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