Marble Falls       Jesse Jackson, prominent civil rights leader for decades and two-time presidential candidate, has passed away at 84 years of age.  Jackson and his advocacy for African-Americans, economic development, and have nots here and abroad, were unstinting and a longtime part of the news cycle from his days with SCLC and Operation Breadbasket through the Rainbow Coalition and beyond.  Jackson’s relationship with ACORN and our unions were generous and fruitful.

Jackson and his people trained us in the early years.  From our earliest biannual conventions, Jackson was on the list of invited speakers.  Often our DC office would report that they were positive that he had committed to one event or another in the early 1980s, only to leave us waiting at the altar, so to speak.  Eventually, we learned the protocol.  If there was no follow-up call that included the details on where he would stay and how he would fly and with what kind of retinue, then any prior conversations or so-called commitments were just words in the wind.  We were organizers.  What did we know about the ways and means of people of Jackson’s stature and celebrity?

But we learned and learned well.  Jackson appeared at some ACORN conventions.  He marched with us at a Washington legislative conference once or, my memory fails me, that might have been the one time we held a national convention in Washington, DC.  I even had him come to great applause to a meeting I organized as head of SEIU’s Southern Conference in Gulfport, Mississippi once, when he stayed miles away at a much nicer hotel in a newly opened casino.  We understood.  His schedule was cramped.  His travel was endless.  Whatever he needed, we were glad to provide as a good friend and constant supporter of ACORN and our other efforts.

His first run for president in 1984 was also the first time ACORN’s political action committees endorsed anyone at that level.  The chance to support the first Black president was too good for the leadership, membership, and staff to miss.  ACORN’s Caravan for Justice toured Missouri, Arkansas, Louisiana, Alabama, and Georgia, as we hit the doors in our communities’ registering voters and encouraging people to vote in the primaries.  I took my young children each half of the way on the bus in experiences that are evergreen for all of us to this day.  From that point forward, Jackson was an ally and friend of ACORN through the years. My daughter and I made up a doggerel tune about being “door knocking fools,” which we both can sing to this day.

I was lucky to hear King speak at the mobilization for peace at the United Nations in the late 60’s.  I was fortunate to hear Jackson speak many times over the years.  He was more than a wordsmith with a preacher’s rhymes and cadences.  He was a moral force injected into the politics and issues of the day, willing and able to stand with any and everyone fighting for justice, especially for low- and moderate-income families.

America and the world are poorer now without his voice.  He represented.  He will be missed.