Fight the Just fight
The Reverend Jesse Jackson (October 8, 1941–February 17, 2026) leaves behind a legacy that is impossible to separate from the unfinished work of American democracy. Born in Greenville, South Carolina, under the heaviness of Jim Crow, he turned personal hardship into public purpose as one of the most recognisable voices of the 20th and 21st centuries.
Jackson emerged in the civil rights movement as a protégé of Martin Luther King Jr. and James Bevel and was one of those present at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis on 4 April 1968, when Martin Luther King Jr. was shot and killed.
He was able to bring organisational force and unrivaled oratory to campaigns that linked dignity to bread-and-butter justice. Through Operation Breadbasket, he challenged corporate power with disciplined consumer action, insisting that equal rights meant equal access to jobs, contracts, and opportunity. When he founded Operation PUSH and later built the Rainbow Coalition, he expanded the movement’s constituency: Black and white, labour and farmer, immigrant and native-born, young and old – a political “quilt” held together by shared hopes and hard realities.
His two presidential campaigns, in 1984 and 1988, were not symbolic runs; they redrew the map of Democratic politics, widened participation, and proved that a multiracial, working-class coalition could compete at the highest level. Long after the ballots were counted, he remained a relentless advocate confronting police brutality, defending voting rights, and pushing America to live up to its stated ideals. He served as the shadow senator for the District of Columbia from 1991 to 1997.
Jackson fought for the justice of the marginalised up until the end of his life, spoke truth to power, and personified Blaise Pascal’s quote, “Justice and power must be brought together, so that what is just may be powerful, and whatever is powerful may be just.” It is this message that God delights in for and within humanity. As Micah 6:8 states, “What does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.”
Whilst he fought for justice, Jackson’s career was not without controversy, but even critics rarely denied his impact. He fought in the open, made arguments in public, and believed that progress required pressure. Survived by his wife Jacqueline and their children, including Santita, Jesse Jr, and Jonathan. He was a preacher of conscience and a voice for justice. May justice live on!