Remembering Jesse Jackson for his record on criminal justice reform

Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr. (1941-2026) has passed after a long battle. He was 84 years old.

“After taking part in and organizing sit-ins and other civil rights actions as a university student, Jackson worked alongside Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. at the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) and was later elevated to national director of SCLC’s economic arm, Operation Breadbasket.

“Jackson ran unsuccessfully for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1984 and 1988, amassing more than 10 million votes across both campaigns—making him, up to that time, the most successful Black presidential candidate in U.S. history.

“In his 1984 speech at the Democratic National Convention, Jackson made the case for a ‘Rainbow Coalition’ organized around a common mission: ‘to feed the hungry; to clothe the naked; to house the homeless; to teach the illiterate; to provide jobs for the jobless; and to choose the human race over the nuclear race.’” (Common Dreams)

In 1971, Jackson founded Operation PUSH (People United to Save/Serve Humanity), and in 1984, following his presidential campaign, he launched the National Rainbow Coalition. The two groups merged in 1996 to create the Rainbow PUSH Coalition, based in Chicago. Jackson stepped down from leading the organization in 2023, but it continues to advocate for racial and economic justice.

The only solution is to engage in mass action and mass voting that will allow the truth to come out that will lead to dramatic reform in our criminal justice system.

Jackson was a prominent voice in opposition to the 1994 crime bill, which ultimately passed under President Bill Clinton. Speaking before the Congressional Black Caucus, Jackson said, “The draconian Senate crime bill is an expensive non-remedy. … This is criminal! We need development, not containment. This political process is not working for us. We must go another way.”

In 2020, the Rainbow PUSH Coalition partnered with the Prison Policy Initiative to issue a 50-state report on voting from jail, entitled Eligible, but Excluded. At the release of the report, Jackson said, “Thousands of people in jails across America retain the right to vote, but they are denied that right in every election. Many of these voters are being held simply because they are poor and can’t make bail. This form of voter suppression is a truly heinous form of social injustice and civic indignity.”

Jackson wrote in the Washington Informer in 2021, “Our criminal justice system still needs dramatic reform. Blacks make up more than 40% of the prison population, but only 13% of the nation’s population. … The only solution is to engage in mass action and mass voting that will allow the truth to come out that will lead to dramatic reform in our criminal justice system.”

JustLeadershipUSA sends its thoughts and prayers to Rev. Jackson’s family and loved ones. We mourn with the nation as we all grieve the loss of one of our greatest leaders.