HONORING REVEREND JESSE JACKSON

On 2026-04-14, Representative James E. Clyburn (D-SC-6) delivered a floor speech titled "HONORING REVEREND JESSE JACKSON" in the House. The speech addressed taxes and also covered foreign policy, labor policy.

HONORING REVEREND JESSE JACKSON

Congressional Record, Volume 172 Issue 65 (Tuesday, April 14, 2026) [Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 65 (Tuesday, April 14, 2026)] [House] [Pages H2881-H2883] From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [ www.gpo.gov ] HONORING REVEREND JESSE JACKSON (Under the Speaker's announced policy of January 3, 2025, Mr. Clyburn of South Carolina was recognized for 30 minutes.) Mr. CLYBURN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor and pay homage to the late Reverend Jesse Louis Jackson, Sr. On Tuesday, February 14, 2026, I joined the Nation in mourning the passing of one of the most quintessential civil rights leaders: the Reverend Jesse Louis Jackson, Sr. Our relationship began as students at rival high schools in South Carolina--he at Sterling in Greenville and me at Mather Academy in Camden. Our schools played football and basketball against each other. Jesse was a star quarterback at Sterling, and I was a prolific benchwarmer at Mather Academy, but the rivalry was there and real. He could play, and I could yell. That relationship was extended and intensified when he enrolled at North Carolina A&T, an 1890 Land Grant HBCU in Greensboro, North Carolina. I was already attending South Carolina State, the 1890 HBCU in our home State. There was and still is an intense rivalry between those two iconic institutions. Then, independent of each other, we both pledged and became members of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity. It was in that brotherhood and during our political activism, although not always in the same camp, that we developed a love and respect that lasted throughout the ages. His mother, Helen, was one of my biggest political boosters and a valued friend. Jesse and I had a genuine friendship, in large measure because our mothers willed it to be. During my political visits to Greenville and the Piedmont area, his mother, Helen, and her good friend, Lottie Gibson, would make sure I had as much sustenance as their southern fried chicken could provide. I shall never forget the night I kicked off my campaign for South Carolina's Secretary of State in Georgetown, every bit of a 4-hour drive from Greenville. Just as that rally began, I looked up, and who was walking through the door of that church? Helen Jackson and Lottie Gibson. They had driven all the way from Greenville down to Georgetown to help me in that effort. I lost that race. As one can imagine, with that loss, came some anxieties about the future. As fate would have it, I was destined to serve here in Congress and eventually with two of Helen's grandsons: Jesse, Jr., and Jonathan, Jesse's sons. Today, some of our children have become friends. Ours was a friendship that spanned four generations. Jesse was a son of Greenville, born to a mother who was just 16 years old at the time of his birth. His grandmother raised him until he was 13 when he then was adopted by his stepfather, Charles Jackson. Jesse began his activism in the summer of 1960, as a student seeking to desegregate the Greenville Public Library. Jesse recounted how painful it was to not be allowed access to the books in that library. After being denied that privilege, Jesse vowed to return that summer to advocate for the library's desegregation. He became a leader in the sit-in movement. Jesse led seven Black high school students into the Whites-only Greenville Public Library. They were arrested for sitting down in that library and became known as the Greenville Eight. Interestingly, around that same time, I became one of the leaders of a sit-in in Orangeburg, and some referred to us as the Orangeburg Seven. It was interesting how all of this happened during that time. There was the Greensboro Four up in North Carolina and the Friendship Nine in Rock Hill. I don't know why they gave us those kind of monikers, but we wore them with pride. The Greenville Eight ultimately won the right to have access to that library. Today, the Greenville Public Library serves all people, and that episode launched what would become for Jesse a life of civil rights and political activism. He became director of Operation Breadbasket and the founder of the venerable Rainbow PUSH Coalition, an intergenerational movement to uplift the voiceless and downtrodden. His passion to bring together people of all colors and creeds is a testament to his vision of unity and oneness, as proclaimed by our Nation's motto: ``E Pluribus Unum''; ``out of many, one.'' Operation PUSH became renowned for using direct action, selective buying, and creative negotiations to encourage major corporations to be more inclusive, hire more Black executives, and support and contract with Black-owned businesses and corporations. {time} 2100 The Rainbow PUSH Coalition was and still is about dignity, fairness, justice, and hope. Jesse worked to make the greatness of this country accessible and affordable for all. Jesse's historic Presidential runs in 1984 and 1988 were reflective of his strong will, guiding faith, and belief in possibilities. Those two Presidential campaigns came up short, but that didn't stop him. Because of Jesse's efforts, an end was brought to the winner-take-all distribution of delegates, a creative device comparable to those that were prevalent post-Reconstruction. Where is the fairness when the candidate who gets 51 percent of the votes receives 100 percent of the delegates? Despite what may be said to the contrary, it is a fact that this change allowed underdogs and nonwealthy candidates to compete, increased voter diversity, and paved the way for future candidates. Were it not for the proportional voting in our primaries made possible because of Jesse's efforts, Barack Obama would not have received our party's nomination and would not have been elected our 44th President of these United States of America. Jesse's efforts were not in vain. A life lived defying odds, Reverend Jackson showed us that if we remain focused, work hard, and unite in our purpose, we can continue bending the arc of the moral universe toward justice and continue our pursuit of a more perfect Union. Operation Breadbasket, anti-apartheid activism, voter registration, and corporate diversity were among just a few of his initiatives that advanced opportunity and equality for Black Americans. It should not be lost on any of us that the impact that Jesse had on the Nation and the world was great. His visionary leadership is his legacy, and his orations continue to inspire all of us as we continue our pursuit of justice and equality. In 3 months, we will be celebrating the 250th anniversary of this country's existence. I quote from Thomas Paine's famous writing, ``The American Crisis,'' published in 1776, during the American Revolution. Paine wrote: ``These are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of his country; but he that stands by it now deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph.'' Jesse Louis Jackson was not a summer soldier. He was not a sunshine patriot. He stood with the times. Because of his efforts, many of us can stand where we stand today. Jesse endured setbacks, losses, and the scrutiny of those who did not believe in him. But still, Jesse taught us to renew our faith in what is possible. My favorite Old Testament Scripture is Micah 6:8: For he has shown thee, O man, that which is required--to do justly, be merciful, and walk humbly. In the late 1970s and 1980s, when this country grew weary of justice, it was Jesse who led us to keep walking humbly and maintaining hope. Jesse believed and internalized the admonition found in James 2, ``Faith without works is dead.'' Jesse's voice calls on each of us to keep that faith as enunciated in Hebrews 11:1: ``Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things unseen.'' Jesse understood that we must find the strength to fight for a more perfect Union and find the compassion to make it universal. On March 2, 2026, the late Reverend Jesse Louis Jackson returned home to South Carolina to lie in state in the South Carolina State Capitol. I had the [[Page H2882]] honor of paying homage to him that day, and hundreds filed past his casket to pay respects. Jesse's efforts in the place he called home never wavered. In 2015, he came home to advocate for the removal of the Confederate battle flag from the South Carolina State House grounds after nine Black worshippers were killed at Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston by a young white supremacist who worshipped that flag and wanted his act to start a ``race war,'' his quote. Jesse became the second Black person to lie in state in our State's Capitol. The first was his and my friend, the late pastor and State Senator Clementa Pinckney, who was one of those Emanuel 9. I am pleased to be here this evening and to be part of this Congressional Black Caucus Special Order. I thank my good friend for allowing me to be here. Cleo is my classmate from 1993. I thank him for allowing me to be here. I close by thanking Jesse's family for what they mean to me and my family. It is an emotional connection not easy to explain. In his 1984 Rainbow Coalition speech, Jesse said: ``No matter how difficult the days and dark the nights, there is a brighter side somewhere. In Angola; Mozambique; Nicaragua; El Salvador; South Africa; Greenville, South Carolina; and Harlem, there is a brighter side.'' The impact of his enduring legacy will resonate for years to come. May he take his rightful place among those who have shaped this Nation's course and pushed us further toward a more perfect Union. {time} 2110 Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Green). Mr. GREEN of Texas. And still I rise, Mr. Speaker. And I rise tonight to thank the Honorable Jim Clyburn for that fantastic recitation that he accorded us. It