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AMY GOODMAN: In 2024, on the eve of the Democratic National Convention, friends and supporters of the Reverend Jackson gathered in Chicago to pay him tribute. This is Senator Bernie Sanders.
SEN. BERNIE SANDERS: I happen to believe that Jesse Jackson is one of the very most significant political leaders in this country in the last 100 years. And I think sometimes we take for granted all that he has accomplished and the walls that he has broken down. Today, when people say, you know, Black and white and Latino and Asian American and Native American and gay and straight have got to stand together, people were not talking like that 30 or 40 years ago.
And I will never forget one of the most beautiful photographs I have ever seen. Do you all recall the Reverend Jackson standing on a bale of hay in Iowa? Anybody remember that? Surrounded, surrounded by white farmers. And the point that he was making there, which was a point people were not making in America at that time, is that the people who were destroying — the corporate forces that were destroying family-based agriculture for white farmers in Iowa were exactly the same people who were exploiting Black workers and Latino workers. And back in ’84 or ’88, that was a pretty profound statement.
So, I’m not going to list for you the achievements of Jesse Jackson. You know how often he has ended up in jail fighting against racism and segregation. You know how many countless, probably hundreds and hundreds, of demonstrations he has led in every part of this country. You all know his work with Dr. King, his historic and enormously important work. But Jesse’s contribution to modern history is not just bringing us together; it is bringing us together around a progressive agenda.
So, let us be crystal clear: There would not have been, in my view, a Barack Obama in 2008 without Jesse Jackson. There would not have been a Vice President Kamala Harris in 2020 without Jesse Jackson. And there would not have been a President Kamala Harris without Jesse Jackson.
You know, when I ran for president in 2016, I talked about Medicare for All and healthcare as a human right. Well, guess what. Jesse Jackson was there 30 years before I was. Thirty years ago, he was talking about healthcare as a human right and universal healthcare. Thirty years ago, he was talking about profoundly changing our national priorities, taking care of our kids, not giving tax breaks to billionaires. Jesse Jackson, 30 years ago.
When he came to Burlington, Vermont, we took him to a child care center. He understood that in the richest country on Earth, you don’t turn your backs on the children or turn your backs on the elderly or turn your backs on the working class of this country.
So, I have known Jesse Jackson and his family for many, many decades, and it has been one of the honors of my life. He is a hero of mine, proud to call him and his family friends. This, ladies and gentlemen, is one of the great heroes of American society. Thank you all very much.
AMY GOODMAN: Senator Bernie Sanders speaking in 2024 at an event in Chicago on the eve of the Democratic National Convention, honoring the Reverend Jesse Jackson, who died today at the age of 84. In 1988, Sanders endorsed Jackson for president at the time he was mayor of Burlington, Vermont.
Coming up, we’ll speak to Howard University professor Clarence Lusane and civil rights activist Larry Hamm, who served as co-chair of the Jesse Jackson presidential campaign in New Jersey in 1988. He was a Jackson delegate then and also a Bernie Sanders delegate in 2020. Stay with us.
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AMY GOODMAN: Sweet Honey in the Rock performing “Down by the Riverside” in our firehouse studio more than 20 years ago. And we’ll be celebrating our 30th anniversary February 23rd here in New York at the historic Riverside Church, where Dr. King gave his major speech opposing the war in Vietnam. To get tickets to this amazing event with Angela Davis and Naomi Klein, with Wynton Marsalis and Michael Stipe, go to democracynow.org.
