Memorial service for Rev Jesse Jackson

Rev Jackson speaking at UN 2012 Image: United States Mission Geneva

Three former US Democrat presidents and the current President of Colombia were among a vast array of speakers at a marathon final public memorial service for the late Baptist minister and trailblazing politician Rev Jesse Jackson in Chicago last Friday.

Rev Jackson, a towering civil rights icon who battled alongside the Rev Dr Martin Luther King Jr, negotiated global hostage releases, and shamed corporations for their lack of corporate diversity and failure to support voting rights, died on February 17th, aged 84, from a rare neurological disorder that affected his mobility and ability to speak.

A congregation of 10,000 were present in Chicago's House of Hope church for the farewell and thanksgiving which mixed prayer and politics just as the Rev Jackson had done. Celebrated Gospel singers and local legend Jennifer Hudson sang stirring hymns and songs such as 'We Shall Overcome and 'Change is Gonna Come'. Many, from former President Bill Clinton to the civil rights leader the Rev Al Sharpton, saw in Jesse Jackson's death a call to action. Sharpton, who considered the late reverend a lifelong mentor, said he hoped attendees would take home some of the "Jackson fire." "Don't sit here so holy and sanctified and act like you have no assignment yourself," he said to the increasingly boisterous crowd. "We didn't come this far to turn around now."

Rev Jackson had sought the Democratic presidential nomination in 1984 and 1988. Although those bids were unsuccessful, he became the first black candidate for US president to get on the primary ballot in all 50 states. Former President Barack Obama said Jackson's presidential runs set the stage for other Black leaders, including his own successful 2009 presidency and re-election.

Jackson's celebrated poem 'I am somebody' is a celebration of the sanctity and dignity of every human person "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 or any room where we didn't belong," Obama said. He said he was grateful to Jackson for providing a "legacy of hope" in contrast with the current Republican leadership in Washington.

President Gustavo Petro from Colombia delivered an emotional tribute, praising Jackson as a global symbol of freedom and diversity, linking civil rights struggles across the Americas and warning against rising global authoritarianism.

Petro's presence at the memorial service was all the more significant because of his tireless advocacy for Palestine and denunciation of the genocide in Gaza - putting him at odds with the current US administration. He has called for an international coalition to 'liberate Palestine' and proposed UN-backed peace conferences. In a speech at the United Nations General Assembly on September 23, 2025, he denounced racial and religious supremacy claims, criticized powerful nations' complicity in the genocide, and called for global solidarity and peace.

Fr Michael Pfleger - a social activist and emeritus parish priest of St Sabina's Church, Chicago, was an old friend of Jesse Jackson who prayed at his bedside in his final hours. In an opening prayer at the memorial service, he addressed the congregation: 'Jesse Jackson fought the fight and he finished the race and now may each of us honour him by picking up the baton and may we keep running in Jesse's name.'

Former soldier Andrew Ramirez paid tribute to Rev Jackson leading an interfaith delegation to secure his release from the former Yugoslavia in 1999 along with two other soldiers who were being held captive.

In general tributes circulated after his death, Catholic leaders praised his non-partisan work and legacy in the 'moral centre', advancing human dignity and social justice. Bishop Daniel E Garcia of Austin, Texas, chairman of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops' Subcommittee for the Promotion of Racial Justice and Reconciliation, said, "As an advocate for racial justice and a central figure in the civil rights movement, Rev Jesse Jackson played a key role in securing equal rights for African-Americans and offered prophetic witness to the dignity of people of all racial backgrounds."

"He inspired generations to pursue racial justice, love goodness, and walk humbly with God. May his legacy continue to inspire, guide and uplift all who strive for a more just world and an end to racism," Bishop Garcia said.

Krisanne Vaillancourt Murphy, executive director of the social activist Catholic Mobilizing Network, said that, "He literally walked his talk, calling attention to the social and economic ills for people who were forgotten, overlooked, and marginalized. He was a larger-than-life figure and a deeply faithful man who consistently and pointedly connected the realities of injustice in the present day to the often overlooked sins of systemic racism and institutionalized discrimination.

"Jesse carried an indefatigable hope and a more perfect vision for the future. His faith informed his engagement in politics and the policy arena and undergirded his vision for justice."

Vaillancourt Murphy said Catholic Mobilizing Network's "advocacy to end the death penalty, which recognizes the deep-rooted racism and institutionalized discrimination within the US criminal legal system, has learned much from civil rights leaders like Jesse Jackson."

"Racism is a sin, and engagement in racial justice efforts are required at the individual, social and systemic levels so that truth-telling can dismantle unjust systems and build up approaches to justice that are equitable, restorative, and life-affirming - more fitting of our faith convictions," she said. "Jesse Jackson's witness - a tireless and fervently hopeful pursuit of the good - provides a faithful inspiration in this work."

Gloria Purvis, a special adviser for integral human development and dignity at Providence College in Rhode Island and a senior fellow at Georgetown's Initiative for Catholic Social Thought in Public Life in Washington, recalled that Rev Jackson had met St John Paul II several times, notably to advocate for Haitian refugees.

"The preferential option for the poor, solidarity with the oppressed, the dignity of the human person, all of those things, I think, are the positive parts of his legacy that should be remembered," Purvis said.

She added, "At this time in particular (when) to be able to empathize with other people's struggles seems to be a difficulty," Rev. Jackson's legacy was "a practical enactment" of what Catholic social teaching calls solidarity, "the recognition that we are all responsible for one another."

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (Democrat, New York) called Rev Jackson "a legendary voice for the voiceless" who had laboured away in "the vineyards of the community inspiring us to keep hope alive in the struggle for liberty and justice for all."

Jackson's pursuits were countless, taking him to all corners of the globe: Advocating for the poor and underrepresented on issues including voting rights, health care, job opportunities and education. His son Yusef Jackson said, "He lived a revolutionary Christian faith rooted in justice and non-violence."