Civil rights activist the Rev. Jesse Jackson died Tuesday. A protégé of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Jackson was among the last remaining icons of the modern Civil Rights Movement. Known for his fiery oratory, he was often called “the country preacher,” a moniker that reflected his humble roots and lifelong commitment to advocating for the disenfranchised.
His famous speech, “I Am Somebody” – also the title of his 1971 spoken-word album – resonated deeply with me as an orphan and ward of New York City. In 1984 and again in 1988, I voted for Jackson for president because he was the only candidate whose campaign openly welcomed people like me: an African American lesbian.
I met Jackson in 2018 at the Chautauqua Institution, where I was guest preacher for the week. I thanked him for his decades of public service.
Mel King’s influence
“Jackson believed political power was built through coalitions. In 1983, he came to Boston’s South End [Concord Baptist Church] to support Mel King’s mayoral campaign, a multiracial progressive movement many thought couldn’t win,” said Sue O’Connell, editor and co-publisher of Bay Windows, in an interview on NBC10 the day Jackson died. “Here’s something people don’t realize – it was Mel King who coined the term ‘Rainbow Coalition.’ Jackson saw what King was building in Boston and took that concept national. So Boston plays a major role in Jackson’s legacy.”
Jackson’s deep ties to Boston began with King (1928–2023), and a revered community organizer, educator and towering figure in Boston politics. Jackson adapted King’s coalition model for his presidential campaigns. Reflecting on King’s impact, Jackson recalled in “Progressive City: Radical Alternatives” in 1999: “I first laid eyes on Mel at a rally against racism on the Boston Common in 1974 … I was electrified.” Jackson’s Rainbow Coalition brought national visibility to constituencies many politicians regarded as liabilities – among them feminists and LGBTQ+ Americans.
King’s coalition model disrupted Boston’s historically fragmented and racially polarized political establishment. Although he lost his historic 1983 mayoral race, his grassroots strategy – uniting Black, Latino, Asian and progressive white voters – proved to be successful for future candidates. It helped pave the political paths for president Barack Obama and U.S. representative Ayanna Pressley. Former Democratic presidential nominee Michael Dukakis, reflecting on Jackson’s death in remarks to WCVB-TV, called Jackson’s 1988 “Keep Hope Alive” campaign a key precursor to Obama’s 2008 “Yes We Can” victory.
HIV/Aids health champion
During the Aids epidemic, the Black LGBTQ+ community often found neither refuge nor welcome in the church. Many persistent social, political and economic factors fueled the high rates of HIV/Aids in African American communities – racism, poverty, health care disparities and violence, to name a few. Yet the most damaging factors were the homophobia within the Black Church and its entrenched politics of silence.
“I grew up in the Black Church,” David Satcher, former surgeon general and assistant secretary for health, told The New York Times in 1998. “The church has problems with the lifestyle of homosexuality. A real problem has been getting ministers who are even willing to talk about it from their pulpits.”
Jackson was among the first Black ministers and political leaders to promote Aids education and prevention. He worked to destigmatize the virus by becoming the first Black clergy member to be publicly tested. He also mobilized fellow clergy to action, reframing HIV/Aids as a public health crisis rather than a moral failing tied to LGBTQ+ identity. In 2002, through the Rainbow Push Coalition, Jackson launched the “One Million Tests” initiative to encourage HIV testing in African American communities and to pressure pharmaceutical companies to lower the cost of antiretroviral drugs.
Jackson did not stop at challenging Black ministers; he called out president Ronald Reagan. In a speech delivered at Northeastern University in May 1987, Jackson expressed outrage over Reagan’s prolonged silence. When the president finally acknowledged the epidemic, he belatedly labeled Aids “public health enemy No. 1” – without recognizing how his own inaction had contributed to its devastating spread.
Marriage equality
“Marriage is based on love and commitment – not sexual orientation. I support the right of any person to marry the person of their choosing,” Jackson said at a rally outside the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit in San Francisco in December 2010.
Jackson was a full-throated supporter of LGBTQ+ rights. He opposed California’s Proposition 8, which defines marriage as only between a man and woman, rejected the idea that marriage equality should be decided state by state and said publicly that he would officiate same-sex weddings. Like many Black Americans, though, he objected strongly to comparing the LGBTQ+ rights movement to the 1960s Civil Rights Movement.
That tension was thoughtfully addressed June 12 during a Capitol Hill ceremony marking the 40th anniversary of the Supreme Court decision striking down antimiscegenation laws. Sponsored by a coalition of straight and LGBTQ+ civil rights organizations nationwide, the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund released a historic statement clarifying why the fight for marriage equality is indeed a civil rights struggle:
“It is undeniable that the experience of African Americans differs in many important ways from that of gay men and lesbians; among other things, the legacy of slavery and segregation is profound. But differences in historical experiences should not preclude the application of constitutional provisions to gay men and lesbians who are denied the right to marry the person of their choice.”
Jackson advocated for the LGBTQ+ community – especially Black LGBTQ+ people – at a time we had no one. He offered hope when family, church and society turned their backs on us. In this dark political moment, when hard-won civil rights are being targeted and rolled back, he leaves us with the enduring charge from his 1988 speech: “Keep Hope Alive!”
The Rev. Irene Monroe is a speaker, theologian and syndicated columnist. She co-hosts the “All Rev’d Up!” podcast.
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