David Banks: On Jesse Jackson, and the never-ending pursuit of a better world

Ode to U.S. Civil Rights Icon Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr: A Life That Carried the Rainbow

Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was saddened to learn of the passing of the Rev. Jesse Jackson, a giant of the civil rights movement in the US and a longtime champion of human rights, equality and justice around the world. Credit: United NationsBy Purnaka L. de SilvaNEW YORK, Feb 20 2026 (IPS) When the Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr. declared, “Keep hope alive,” it was not a slogan. It was a discipline. It was a moral posture. It was a promise to thos…

Rev. Jesse Jackson, a common bond, a common mission

Marc H. Morial, president and CEO, National Urban League Credit: Photo courtesy of the John S. Watson Institute for Urban Policy and Research at Kean University America has lost a giant. Rev. Jesse Louis Jackson Sr. was more than a towering figure of the civil rights movement—he was a force of nature, a moral compass, and one of the most consequential voices for justice that this nation has ever known. His passing leaves a void in our public lif…

Jesse Jackson and the rise of the progressive movement

Presidential candidate Jesse Jackson campaigns in 1984. (Photo by Robert R. McElroy)I wish I could say that I was old enough to have direct personal memories of the 1988 Democratic primary, because it was a fascinating moment in political history and my family — left-wing intellectuals on one side and Jewish liberals on the other — was very much at the center of dissension. My home state of New York was essentially the Waterloo of Jesse Jackson’…

On Jesse Jackson, and the never-ending pursuit of a better world

For those of us who grew up after the 1960s — at least those of us who are white and were raised in rural Minnesota — it seemed, perhaps, that the...

David Banks: On Jesse Jackson, and the never-ending pursuit of a better world

For those of us who grew up after the 1960s — at least those of us who are white and were raised in rural Minnesota — it seemed, perhaps, that the battle for civil rights had been fought and won,…

Jesse Jackson’s Lafayette College legacy

Civil rights activist Rev. Jesse Jackson, a protégé of Martin Luther King Jr. and leader of the civil rights movement, died on Tuesday at the age of 84. A Baptist minister and two-time presidential candidate, Jackson lived with progressive supranuclear palsy, a neurological disorder, for over a decade, according to a USA Today report. His family did not specify the cause of his death. Jackson spoke at Lafayette College in March of 1984 during hi…