[Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 65 (Tuesday, April 14, 2026)]
[House]
[Pages H2879-H2881]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                REMEMBERING REVEREND JESSE JACKSON, SR.

  (Under the Speaker's announced policy of January 3, 2025, Ms. Waters 
of California was recognized for 30 minutes.)
  Ms. WATERS. Mr. Speaker, the very Reverend Jesse Jackson Presidential 
candidate and civil rights leader was not only my close friend and 
confidant, he was my longtime political ally and mentor.
  Reverend Jesse Jackson, Sr., was my idol and spiritual and political 
leader. He was a brilliant, gifted, and courageous civil rights leader 
who inspired millions. He registered millions to vote and challenged 
and changed the Democratic Party.
  Just a little bit about his background. I want you to know that 
Reverend Jackson at 30 years old was one of the youngest followers of 
Dr. Martin Luther King.
  Reverend Jackson spent his life continuing to protect and save the 
gains that were made during the civil rights movement.
  Now, I became a dedicated and committed follower of Jesse Jackson. I 
worked with Reverend Jackson in both the 1984 and the 1988 Presidential 
campaigns. I was a top adviser on the national campaign and was 
appointed by Reverend Jackson to chair and lead the California 
campaign.

                              {time}  2040

  Mr. Speaker, I hear a lot said about Reverend Jackson. Most people 
knew him from television, radio, and his public speeches, but I was a 
close-up witness to Reverend Jackson's brilliant campaign strategies 
and developments.
  He used his voice and his organizing skills to create the beautiful 
Rainbow

[[Page H2880]]

PUSH Coalition, long before there was any understanding or appreciation 
for diversity, equity, and inclusion. For all intents and purposes, 
Reverend Jackson made sure that the campaign that he headed included 
Latinos, Asians, Native Americans, Whites, women, LGBTQ, organized 
labor, and others. He brought together pastors, preachers, and 
multifaith leaders from all over the country. I recall his work and his 
outreach to small farmers in rural areas.
  Jesse Jackson went into areas in rural America where those who did 
not know him hated him and thought, for some reason, that he could be 
of no use to them. Once he got into those communities and started to 
work with the rural farmers, many of them were having their farms 
foreclosed on at that time, and Reverend Jackson learned a lot about 
how to talk with bankers about loan modifications so that those farmers 
could stay in business. Even today, there are farmers and their 
families who remember what Reverend Jackson did for them in these rural 
communities. It was an amazing kind of development and association that 
he made.
  He was responsible for cracking open the doors of America's corporate 
community and those in Silicon Valley. Reverend Jackson was also an 
international ambassador for peace. He used his tremendous influence to 
champion human rights.
  I worked with him in the Free South Africa movement, where he helped 
free Nelson Mandela and bring an end to apartheid in South Africa. We 
had a wonderful experience of attending the inauguration when Nelson 
Mandela became President of South Africa.
  Of course, Reverend Jackson helped to secure the release of U.S. 
hostages all around the world. The one that stands out to me is when he 
went to Syria and negotiated the release of U.S. Navy Lieutenant Robert 
Goodman, Jr.
  Reverend Jackson was an extraordinary human being and a true human 
rights advocate. I can recall when we went to public housing projects. 
In Los Angeles, he was at Nickerson Gardens housing projects, where the 
gangbangers and others met him for the first time.
  When he went to Nickerson Gardens, they were not believers. They 
didn't know an awful lot, and so they challenged him to stay overnight 
in public housing at Nickerson Gardens, and he did.
  Right now, when you go to Nickerson Gardens, some of those older 
members who remembered him from when he came to Nickerson Gardens will 
point to the unit where Reverend Jackson slept in Nickerson Gardens 
housing project, but that is not enough.
  You saw Congressman Cleo Fields here tonight. I want you to know that 
when Katrina happened, Reverend Jackson organized me and some others. 
We went to New Orleans, where Cleo Fields rented a bus.
  We got on that bus, and we traveled all over New Orleans. Why did we 
do that? It was because there were people who had been left on rooftops 
with no way to get down, and some of them were helped down by Reverend 
Jackson, Cleo Fields, and myself. Many of them had been dropped along 
the wayside, hoping that somebody would come and pick them up.
  I can recall when we went to the Louis Armstrong New Orleans 
International Airport, where there were people who were sitting there 
who had been dropped off because they had been helped to get off of a 
roof, but no one could help them any further. We put them in that bus, 
and we rode through all of New Orleans, particularly in the areas 
around Alexandria and other cities in the Louisiana area.
  We took them to State houses. We took them to rescue places. We took 
them to wherever we could find a place for them to sleep.
  Reverend Jackson was a huge political individual at that time, 
recognized all over the world for his advocacy for the least of these, 
helping to get people to understand that everybody was special and that 
everybody was important. He taught that message through his brilliant 
way of connecting: ``I am somebody.'' He made little young boys and 
girls, who really didn't think they were somebody, think, now that they 
met Reverend Jesse Jackson, that they were somebody.
  I want you to know that his humanitarianism was the likes of which I 
have never seen before. He truly cared about people. The Reverend Jesse 
Jackson was a religious man, and he prayed before meetings. He prayed 
after meetings. Even though, at the time that I started working with 
him, I did not know a lot about the power of prayer, but I learned that 
being on the road with him and how he cared about everybody, how he 
cared about the young and the old and the veterans and the imprisoned, 
on and on and on.
  He was truly an unusual human being, married to an unusual woman. His 
wife was not only, in her own right, a civil rights activist and 
leader, but she supported him in every way that she possibly could. The 
two of them raised five brilliant children, one of which who served in 
this House. That was Jesse Jackson, Jr. Today, we have the brilliant, 
young Jonathan Jackson who is serving.
  They come with the spirit of their daddy. I lived with the spirit of 
Reverend Jesse Jackson. It is in me, and so you can call it whatever 
you want to call it. You can call it progressive. You can call it 
liberal. You can call it whatever you want. In the final analysis, it 
is Reverend Jesse Jackson who changed so many lives, who helped people 
to understand that they did not stand alone, that he was there for 
them, speaking for them.
  Whether he was talking to kings and queens, or he was talking to the 
man on the block, we could count on Reverend Jesse Jackson. In the 
final analysis, Reverend Jackson more than earned his place in history. 
Rightfully so, his work will never be forgotten and will be taught in 
communities all over the world in places low and high, in our schools 
and universities.

  I will live the rest of my life with the memories that I will cherish 
for the time, the effort, and the phenomenal work that I experienced 
with the Reverend Jesse Jackson, Jr., Presidential candidate and civil 
rights leader.
  I am thankful for the opportunity to be here this evening, and I 
yield to the gentlewoman from Illinois (Ms. Kelly).
  Ms. KELLY of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in honor of the late 
Reverend Jesse Jackson.
  Reverend Jackson, as you know, is a global civil rights leader and a 
moral voice for our Nation. I am proud to have called the reverend a 
friend, a supporter, and most of all, my constituent.
  No matter where the fight for justice took him, Reverend Jackson 
always returned home to the south side of Chicago. From being a leader 
alongside Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., to a two-time Presidential 
candidate, Reverend Jackson was already a giant in civil rights. He 
never forgot to leave the door open for Black people and, frankly, any 
people following in his footsteps.
  In 2002, when I was challenging a tenure incumbent to become a State 
legislator, the first time I ever ran, Reverend Jackson supported me. 
He was a hero, a behemoth of a freedom fighter, and he decided to 
support a newbie, an underdog, someone who was counted out, like me.
  Time and time again, Reverend Jackson showed his support. He was 
large on the global stage, but he never forgot us Southsiders. He 
founded Rainbow PUSH, which continues to empower countless people 
across Illinois and in my district, the Second District.

                              {time}  2050

  Reverend Jackson was a renowned world leader, but he never forgot how 
to be a friend. Over 2 years ago, when my husband died, he, even though 
he was not in good health, came to my husband's funeral. He also came 
to the burial. It meant the world to me, and I will never ever forget 
his kindness.
  In turn, I so appreciate that his family allowed me to be at his 
bedside to visit him at the hospital 6 to 8 weeks before he died.
  Even though Reverend Jackson is gone, his legacy is not. I stand on 
his shoulders alongside my colleagues who continue his fight for 
equality, justice, and freedom. We do have to remember that we are 
somebody and to keep hope alive.
  Ms. WATERS. Mr. Speaker, we have no further speakers at this moment, 
and I yield back the balance of my time.

[[Page H2881]]

  

                          ____________________