Jesse Jackson, American civil rights fighter and long-time political activist, close associate of Martin Luther King Jr. and two-time candidate for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination has died at the age of 84, his family said.
– Our father was a leader who served not only his family, but also the voiceless and neglected around the world – the Jackson family said, Reuters reports.
Jackson was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2017.
His death comes as Donald Trump’s administration has targeted American institutions — from museums and monuments to national parks — by removing what the president has called “anti-American” ideology, leading to the removal of slavery statutes, the restoration of Confederate monuments and other moves that civil rights activists see as a possible step backwards in decades of social progress.
Jackson has championed the rights of African Americans and other marginalized communities since the turbulent civil rights movement of the 1960s, led by his mentor King, a Baptist minister and prominent social activist.
He ran for the Democratic Party nomination for President of the United States in 1984 and 1988, attracting African-American voters and many white liberals in unexpectedly strong campaigns, but he failed to become the first African-American major-party nominee for the White House.
Jackson founded the civil rights organizations Operation PUSH and the National Rainbow Coalition, and was Democratic President Bill Clinton’s special envoy for Africa in the 1990s. He also played a key role in the release of numerous Americans and others detained abroad, including in countries such as Syria, Cuba, Iraq and Serbia.
(Vijesti.ba/Fena)
