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The veteran American civil rights leader Reverend Jesse Jackson has died at the age of 84, his family confirmed, bringing to a close more than five decades of advocacy for justice, equality and human rights across the world.
Jackson died peacefully on Tuesday morning surrounded by his family. In a statement, they said, “Our father was a servant leader - not only to our family, but to the oppressed, the voiceless, and the overlooked around the world.”
A central figure in the United States civil rights movement, Jackson worked closely alongside Dr Martin Luther King Jr in the 1960s and later emerged as a leading national political figure. He twice sought the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination in 1984 and 1988, mounting historic campaigns that galvanised millions and expanded the space for Black political leadership in the United States.
He had lived for more than a decade with progressive supranuclear palsy, having initially been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, and had also been hospitalised with Covid in recent years.
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Jackson speaking in London, March 2009.
Beyond the United States, Jackson was widely recognised for his consistent engagement with global struggles for justice. Among them was his intervention during the final stages of the genocide in Sri Lanka, when he addressed the Tamil diaspora in London in March 2009 and issued a clear call for an immediate ceasefire.
“We [the global community] have a moral obligation to stop the killings,” Jackson said, urging international actors to act to end the violence. He stressed that the crisis could only be resolved by “thinking it out, and not by shooting it out,” and called for a commitment to a ceasefire because “we cannot negotiate to the sound of bullets whizzing over our heads.”
“We know that there has to be a cessation of violence to get back to the table to resolve the conflict,” he said. “Whenever there is human misery, whenever there is fear, we have a moral obligation.”
Speaking at the height of the Mullivaikkal genocide, Jackson called for increased international awareness and pressed for negotiations grounded in international law, human rights, self-determination and economic justice. “Let us choose negotiation. Let us work it out and not fight it out,” he said. “If the cause is right, you will prevail.”
He emphasised the importance of non-violence and coexistence, stating, “I think our choices remain non-violence and co-existence,” and warned that “there are those who still think that violence is a solution… I believe it is not.”
Drawing on his experience in the US civil rights movement and international struggles against apartheid, Jackson highlighted the power of sustained collective action. “We must affirm international law, human rights, self-determination and economic justice,” he said, adding that the pursuit of justice required perseverance and solidarity.
“We have a moral obligation to work together to stop the killing, to end the fear, to provide the hope,” he said, concluding with a call for a just peace. “We must believe that peace with justice is possible.”
In a separate address to Tamils in London, he went on to state “the media must have access to the concentration camps,” where hundreds of thousands of Tamils were being detained. “People in the world must cry out against this crime against humanity,” he added.
“Do not give up,” he told the audience.” Keep hope alive.”
Read more: ‘We must not wait for another massacre of Tamil people’
Jackson’s death has prompted tributes from across the world, reflecting on a life dedicated to confronting injustice and amplifying the voices of those marginalised and oppressed.