House Speaker Mike Johnson denied a request for the Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr. to lie in state at the U.S. Capitol.
Honors such as lying in state at the Capitol and lowering flags to half-staff are meant to signify more than fame or ideological popularity. They are reserved, at their best, for Americans whose lives measurably expanded democracy, advanced justice, and altered the nation’s moral trajectory.
By that standard, the Rev. Jesse Jackson stands among the most deserving figures of the modern era.
For more than six decades, Jackson has been a central architect of the Civil Rights Movement and its evolution. As a close aide to the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Jackson helped organize the Poor People’s Campaign and carried forward King’s unfinished work after his assassination.
Through the Rainbow PUSH Coalition, Jackson built multiracial, multifaith political alliances that translated protest into policy — registering voters, expanding access to education, advocating for workers’ rights, and demanding corporate accountability.
His two historic presidential campaigns in the 1980s did more than seek office; they reshaped American politics by proving that marginalized communities could build national coalitions and compete seriously for power.
Further, he served as one of D.C.’s first shadow senators from 1991-1997, fighting for District statehood and residents.
Lying in state is not about unanimity; it is about impact. Jackson’s influence is evident in expanded Black political participation, the normalization of coalition politics, and the moral language of fairness and dignity that now permeates public discourse. Entire generations of leaders — local, national, and global — trace their political awakening to Jackson’s example.
Flags flown at half-staff in his honor would symbolize a nation acknowledging the long arc of struggle toward equality and the individuals who bent it closer to justice.
That moral weight stands in stark contrast to the attention often lavished on divisive contemporary commentators, such as Charlie Kirk, whose influence is rooted primarily in provocation, polarization, and media spectacle. While free speech protects all voices, civic honors should distinguish between those who inflame divisions and those who labored to heal them.
To honor Jackson in the U.S. Capitol would not have been partisan. It would have been patriotic—an affirmation that America remembers, and reveres, those who widened its promise for all.