In the near future I will introduce a resolution before the Senate of Pennsylvania honoring the late Reverend Jesse Jackson.
 
Reverend Jesse Jackson was a legend, the last of a generation of civil rights leaders who broke the color barrier in American society by fighting for the rights of freedoms of African Americans to live peaceful, prosperous lives in the United States. For six decades, he led marches, organized sit-ins and boycotts, registered millions of voters, and engaged in international diplomacy on behalf of marginalized peoples across the world. Jackson’s work bridged the eras of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and the Black Lives Matter movement, a testament to his longstanding credibility in the struggle for peace and liberation across generations. His efforts founding of People United to Save Humanity (Operation PUSH), and later the Rainbow Coalition, spanned that bridge, creating the framework under which modern social justice organizations organize across racial, religious, sexual, and class identities. Rainbow/PUSH brought 1960s-style organizing to combat the social conditions of the post-Civil Rights era 1980s and 1990s, and Jackson’s 1984 and 1988 Presidential campaigns have had long lasting influences on modern political organizing and progressive politics in the United States. Jackson’s iconic catchphrase, “I am somebody,” inspired millions of African Americans to believe and want better for themselves, and to fight for the dignity they so truly deserved.
 
This esteemed General Assembly hosted the late Reverend in October 2024, when the Pennsylvania Legislature Black Caucus invited him to survey the progress in advocating for voting rights for incarcerated Pennsylvanians. It was not Jackson’ first trip to Harrisburg, as he’d campaigned for President in the state capital in 1988.
 
Please join me in cosponsorship in recognition of a role model for humanity whose work guides the path we may all walk in the struggle for equality, liberty, and justice for all.