One of the most recognisable civil rights activists in the United States, Rev Jesse Jackson has died on Tuesday at the age of 84, prompting heartfelt tributes from South Africa where his work was perceived as legendary.
Rev Jackson was a close mantee of the civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jnr who was by his side when the latter was assassinated in .
He was a political force in his own rights, unsuccessfully running twice for the Democratic Party ticket for the US presidency in 1984 and 1988, bids which were widely regarded as breaking racial barriers at the time and setting the stage for the future. When the US voted in the country’s firs black president in Barack Obama, Rev Jackson shed tears.
Jackson was the founder of Operation PUSH and the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition, with the man focus being improving the lives of marginalised communities across the United States.
His involvement in campaigns for equal justice knew no barriers, taking his activism to apartheid-South Africa and the Palestinian cause in the 1970s. He visited South Africa in 1979 shortly after the apparent murder of South African anti-apartheid leader Steve Biko where his oratory attracted huge crowds to his Soweto ralies. He described himself as an uncompromising critic of apartheid anywhere in the world. Growng up in the 1940s and 50s, Rev Jackson lived through racial discrimination and segregation.
Since his passing was confirmed, tributes have been pouring in not least from Africa where South African President Cyril Ramaphosa described him as towering figure of civil rights activism the world over.
“We are sad to bid farewell to a global moral authority who gave voice to struggles within the United States as well as struggles for fundamental human rights and democracy around the world, including our own” President Ramaphosa said.
“Mentored by the equally resolute and charismatic Dr Martin Luther King Jr, Jesse Jackson devoted himself to the cause of justice as a human endeavour without borders” he added.
Ramaphosa said Rev Jackson was a reassuring constant ”from Selma in the American South to Soweto…defying the architects of apartheid and executors of brutality to declare that all people are equal and that justice would ultimately triumph over injustice”.
He said Rev Jackson’s fight for freedom and equality made him Africa’s truest friend, mobilising support from Angola, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, The Gambia and Guinea, to Liberia, DR Congo, Zambia and Zimbabwe for his cause on the continent and beyond.
WN/as/APA