The nation’s long farewell to the late Rev. Jesse Jackson mirrors his six decades of service to our country and the world. During the first week of March, in cities across the country, celebrations of Rev. Jackson’s remarkable life of service will be observed as he lies in honor at the South Carolina State House before continuing on to our nation’s capital and then returning to his beloved Chicago.
As we continue to hold dear Rev. Jackson’s innumerable contributions, it is also important to thank his family for generously sharing their husband and father. A life dedicated to service inevitably leads to personal sacrifices. Just as Mrs. Coretta Scott King bore that family responsibility, so has Mrs. Jacqueline Jackson. Both ladies have earned our collective respect and appreciation. We must also embrace the children who no doubt missed their father over the years, but accepted and shared his vision for a better America.
“Freedom and economic justice are two sides of the same coin,” noted Mike Calhoun, president of the Center for Responsible Lending. “Rev. Jesse Jackson stood and tirelessly fought for both. Our nation was emboldened by his courage and enriched by his vision. We now must now gather strength to carry on as he would urge for the many battles that still remain.”
Today’s financial struggles are real and cannot be denied. Affordability is not a catch phrase but the challenge confronting millions of American families just to provide for their families. Tax policies that favor the wealthy now burden America’s working families. Prices on everyday goods continue to skyrocket and generate billions of dollars in debt for those who have no ready cash.
Rev. Jackson understood and fought to meet these challenges head-on, often against seemingly insurmountable odds. And through the years, his heartfelt remembrance of how his life began gave strength to those with few or none of life’s comforts.
In his 1988 nationally televised speech before the Democratic National Convention, Rev. Jackson spoke not to a partisan party but to all of America:
“I know abandonment, and people being mean to you, and saying you’re nothing and nobody and can never be anything … I wasn’t born in the hospital. Mama didn’t have insurance. I was born in the bed at [the] house. I really do understand. Born in a three-room house, bathroom in the backyard, slop jar by the bed, no hot and cold running water. …I was born in the slum, but the slum was not born in me. And it wasn’t born in you, and you can make it.”
The truth of those words is reflected in the success he notably forged in 1966 as the Southern Christian Leadership Conference’s Chicago campaign director for Operation Breadbasket, which championed economic development and empowerment.
In its first 15 months of operation, Operation Breadbasket won 2,000 new jobs worth $15 million a year in new income for Chicago’s Black community. Weekly Saturday workshops drew thousands to hear Jackson preach in person and on the radio. Jackson was named the program’s national director in 1967 by Dr. King, who later remarked, “We knew he was going to do a good job, but he’s done better than a good job.” Soon thereafter, Jackson was promoted to SCLC’s national leader of Operation Breadbasket.
Although largely known for advocacy in domestic policy, Rev. Jackson also successfully used his persuasive negotiating skills in global diplomacy from 1984 to 1999, taking him to Cuba, Iraq/Kuwait, and Yugoslavia, where in 1999 he secured the release of Army Sergeant Andrew Ramirez from enemy capture in Yugoslavia. In the ensuing years, Ramirez kept in touch with Jackson, flying out to Chicago to introduce him to his newborn son and occasionally seeing him at events around the country.
In a recent interview with BBC News, Ramirez’s appreciation still looms large: “He did something for us. He didn’t have to do that. I truly believe he did it because he saw somebody in need and thought he could intervene. He did it for us and for our families. We’re forever appreciative of him.”
Similarly, in a 2014 interview with USA Today, Rev. Jackson recalled how he tried in 1984 to secure support from President Ronald Reagan for the release of Lt. Robert Goodman, a U.S. Navy pilot who for 30 days was held as a prisoner of war during a retaliatory strike against Syrian anti-aircraft positions in Lebanon.
“I think the Civil Rights Movement in America has moral authority in the world community,” Jackson continued. “Our authority may not have an official office, but there’s a certain moral authority that the Civil Rights Movement has.”
In 2026, America must step up and step out on that same moral authority. In Rev. Jackson’s own words in 1988:
“Don’t you surrender. Suffering breeds character, character breeds faith. In the end, faith will not disappoint. You must not surrender. You may or may not get there, but just know that you’re qualified. And you hold on, and hold out.”
Charlene Crowell is a senior fellow with the Center for Responsible Lending. She can be reached at Charlene.crowell@responsiblelending.org.