Now 80 years old, with his speech and mobility challenged by the tremors of Parkinson’s Disease, the Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr. Monday (April 3) shared nuggets of wisdom with a Memphis audience committed to honoring the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and saluting one of Dr. King’s chief lieutenants.
More than 100 attendees came to historic Mt. Olive Cathedral CME Church for the 54th commemoration of King’s assassination in Memphis.
Jackson was a 26-year-old, civil rights activist from Chicago in 1968 when King was gunned down on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel while in Memphis to support striking sanitation workers.
A trailblazer on multiple fronts, Jackson Monday flashed his mastery of the call-and-response motivational speech, with a familiar refrain proving that it still packs power.
“I am somebody,” Jackson said.
The crowd responded enthusiastically, “I am somebody.”
The words call up a time when Jackson, founder and president of the Rainbow PUSH Coalition, enthralled millions with moving speeches, advocating equality and justice for all, especially African Americans.
“If you don’t register and don’t vote, you are disgracing the memory of Dr. King,” Jackson said Monday afternoon.
He pushed the $15-an-hour minimum wage, declaring that America was “too rich and too blessed” to have so many poor people.
“Poor white people and poor Black people deserve to make a livable wage,” said Jackson. “No one should be working and still poor…unable to take care of their families. The minimum wage should be $15.”
Jackson lamented that love and unity had been lost over the years among those fighting for equal rights.
“We were better off in the former years,” he said. “We were together. We loved each other, and we cared about each other. There is too much violence. We need to do something about it. These are our children…We need to teach them conflict resolution…show them the way. We can’t give up on them.”
Surrounded by local ministers, who stood at the podium with him, Jackson spoke from the heart, without the prompting of notes.
Bishop Henry M. Williamson Sr, presiding bishop of the First Episcopal District of the Christian Methodist Episcopal (CME) Church, hosted the event at Mt. Olive Cathedral CMEChurch at Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue and Lauderdale Street.
When the floor was opened for questions, one by one attendees came up to thank Jackson for his life and work in civil rights.
One man had come to Memphis with his son to visit the National Civil Rights Museum. Learning that “Rev. Jackson is also here” made him ecstatic. The man thanked Jackson for his messages of encouragement “to Black people” to keep pushing for equal rights and equal access.
When the gentleman mentioned that he was a member of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Jackson held up his arms in the familiar hand gesture associated with the group. The audience laughed and applauded.
Jackson ended his visit with admonitions, leading the audience in a chant, more a prayer than a string of catchphrases:
“I am somebody. I am somebody. Respect me. Protect me. Keep hope alive,” he said. “Stop the violence. Save the children.”
Williamson announced that Jackson would tour the reopened Collins Chapel Connectional Hospital, which is now a transitional housing facility for homeless individuals convalescing from illness, as well as homeless families, called “Room in the Inn.”
Jackson was a strong advocate for the hospital’s re-opening.
