By Rev. Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis Jr., President and CEO National Newspaper Publishers Association
God always will bless the oppressed with leaders who are fearless, brilliant, audacious, and transformative. We thank God for the life, the legacy and the iconic leadership of the Rev. Dr. Jesse L. Jackson, Sr.
On behalf of the National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA) representing the Black Press of America, we extend our sincerest condolences to the Jackson family. Leadership matters. Jesse Jackson’s leadership in the Civil Rights Movement in America and the human rights movement throughout the world was outstanding. Jackson uttered a strong penetrating voice for the voiceless. His courage on the battlefield for freedom, justice and equality was unparalleled.
There is an old African proverb that says that when a village leader transitions, the leader’s spirit remains at the center of the village’s future. Certainly, today in 2026 our nation and world are still challenged by racism, antisemitism, hatred and inhumanity. The spirit of Jesse Jackson lives on at the center of the ever evolving and unfolding “freedom movement” throughout the world.
Golden Frinks, the North Carolina state field secretary for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) under the leadership of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther, Jr., recruited me when I was 14 years old in 1962 to be the North Carolina statewide youth coordinator for SCLC. I grew up in the Civil Rights Movement. Jesse Jackson was a mentor and a colleague who I admired. I have hundreds of vivid memories of when we worked and struggled together for the liberation of all humanity.
I mourn the passing of Jesse Jackson, Sr. by rededicating my life and ministry to keep fighting for freedom and equal justice.
I witnessed firsthand the integrity, the movement-building genius and the audacity of Martin Luther King Jr. and all those who worked with him including Revs. Andrew Young, David Abernathy, Hosea Williams, Fred Shuttleworth, Wyatt T. Walker, Joseph Lowery, and Jesse Jackson, along with many others.
From the March on Washington in 1963, to the Selma to Montgomery Voting Rights March in 1965, to the Poor Peoples Campaign in 1968, the Civil Rights Movement was successful in getting into law the 1964 Civil Rights Act, the 1965 Voting Rights Act and the 1968 Fair Housing Act.
After King’s tragic assassination on April 4, 1968, in Memphis, the Civil Rights Movement was stunned and fractured.Thanks, however, to the steadfast courage and determination of Mrs. Coretta Scott King and others in SCLC, the Civil Rights Movement moved into the 1970s with renewed vigor to keep Dr. King’s dream alive and vibrant.
In 1972, Jesse Jackson was one of the keynote speakers to the National Black Political Convention in Gary, Indiana. I remember conferring with Jackson while in Gary about the escalating violence against public school desegregation in North Carolina and across the South.
In the 1980s, Jackson’s two presidential campaigns ignited unprecedented Black voter turnout and helped to transform the Democratic Party to be more progressive. Rev. Walker and I were the clergy coordinators for Jackson’s campaigns and “Run Jesse Run” became the anthem of the progressive political struggle across the nation.
Rev. Jackson was a great orator. But he also was a serious and effective writer of civil rights commentaries for the Black Press of America for decades. It is our responsibility to ensure that the legacy of Rev. Jackson will continue to be cherished and used as a stimulant for “Keeping Hope Alive.”
Jackson was a “freedom fighter.” Each generation has to take the baton of history and to continue to win victories for freedom even in the face of those in power who attempt to erase our history and to stifle the freedom movement.
God bless the legacy of the Rev. Jesse L. Jackson Sr. Long live the spirit of the freedom struggle. Eternal salute to the Rev. Jesse L. Jackson Sr.
