Tribute honours legacy of Rev Jesse Jackson and his solidarity with South Africa

TheNelson Mandela Foundationhosted a memorial tribute for ReverendJesse Jacksonreflecting on the civil rights leader’s role in global struggles for justice and his long-standing solidarity with South Africa’s liberation movement. Jackson died on 17 February in Chicago at the age of 85. On Friday Ramaphosa arrived in Chicago and will attend the funeral, a private homecoming celebration, of Jackson.

Jackson was awarded South Africa’s National Order of the Companions of OR Tambo in Silver in 2013. Nelson Mandela Foundation CEO Mbongiseni Buthelezi said the current global climate made Jackson’s legacy particularly relevant. He noted ongoing international conflicts, saying 1 332 people had reportedly been killed in the US-Israel war with Iran and more than 120 in Lebanon since last week.

“It is in such moments that the life and work of Reverend Jackson reminds of the enduring courage of solidarity, of hope,” he said. Buthelezi traced Jackson’s life from his upbringing under the Jim Crow segregation laws in the United States, which forced Black Americans to the back of buses and denied them basic rights. Jackson later joined the civil rights movement and became a prominent figure in the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), which he joined in 1964 alongside Martin Luther King Jr.

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He was ordained as a minister in 1968. “Reverand Jackson was a towering figure in the global struggle for civil rights and a steadfast supporter of South Africa’s liberation movement. His relationship with Nelson Mandela reflected the deep connections between the struggle for civil rights in the United States and the struggle against Apartheid in South Africa,” Buthelezi said.

Jackson rose through the SCLC to run its economic arm in Chicago before becoming its national director. He became a protégé of King and in 1966 was appointed to lead Operation Breadbasket in Chicago, an initiative aimed at improving the economic conditions of African Americans. He was also present in Memphis, Tennessee, when King was assassinated in 1968. In 1984 Jackson launched the Rainbow Coalition and ran for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination, repeating the bid in 1988.

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