The eldest son of Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr. took a swipe at the former Democratic presidents who paid tribute to his father during a memorial service on Friday.
“Yesterday, I listened for several hours of three United States presidents who do not know Jesse Jackson,” Jesse Jackson Jr., the late reverend’s eldest son and a former congressman seeking to win back his seat in Congress in this fall’s midterm elections, said at Jackson’s final memorial service at the Rainbow PUSH Coalition’s headquarters on the South Side of Chicago on Saturday.
“He maintained a tense relationship with the political order, not because the presidents were white or Black, but the demands of our message, the demands of speaking for the least of these—those who are disinherited, the damned, the dispossessed, the disrespected—demanded not Democratic or Republican solutions, but demanded a consistent, prophetic voice that at no point in time sold us out as a people.”
Jackson died last month at age 84 after battling a rare neurological disorder. In a series of speeches on Saturday, the late reverend’s children, civil rights leaders and two presidents of African nations said the best way to honor his legacy is to continue his advocacy for universal human rights and economic justice.
It came after a larger celebration honoring Jackson on Friday that featured speeches from former presidents Barack Obama, Joe Biden and Bill Clinton.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
This article includes reporting by The Associated Press
