Chicago. The Reverend Jesse Jackson appeared at the podium on the first night of the Democratic National Convention, a figure who transformed the party both from within as a presidential candidate, and from without as a popular social leader and founder of the Rainbow Coalition with its motto “keep the faith alive.”
His sonorous words and impressive physical agility were robbed by Parkinson’s, but he is one of the few figures who deserve the accolade of “living legend,” and as the Reverend Al Sharpton declared at a tribute to his career held alongside the convention: “Every time an African-American talks about democracy, Jesse is talking; every time we march, Jesse is walking.”
Jackson, Sharpton and several veteran lawmakers noted, including Barbara Lee – famous for being the only member of the House of Representatives to vote against the war against Iraq – as well as her colleague Maxine Waters, and Representative Ro Khanna – grandson of one of Mahatma Gandhi’s advisors – among others at the event held at the former headquarters of the Rainbow Coalition, was the one who changed the rules of the Democratic Party along with her electoral campaigns in 1984 and 1988, the precedent that made possible the arrival of Barack Obama to the presidency and that makes possible the presidential candidacy today of Kamala Harris as the first black woman daughter of Hindu and Jamaican immigrants.
Jackson dared to shake up the party from the outside, by weaving and promoting coalitions between whites, blacks, Latinos and Asians, and, continuing the legacy of his mentor Martin Luther King, he placed the issue of economic justice at the center of his movement. “Jackson was committed to white, black and brown workers… to labor rights, and always accompanied the struggles of the union movement,” recalled the former president of the national union of communication workers CWA, Larry Cohen.
By the way, almost 40 years ago, an interview with Jackson was published in the first issue of The Day.
More information in the printed version…
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– 2024-08-24 05:24:16
