Thousands gathered in Chicago on Friday to remember the life and legacy of the Rev. Jesse Jackson. Among those expected to attend the late civil rights icon’s funeral service are former presidents Bill Clinton, Barack Obama and Joe Biden; former first lady Dr. Jill Biden; former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton; and Jennifer Hudson.
Ahead of the service at Chicago’s House of Hope, MS NOW host the Rev. Al Sharpton and Sen. Raphael Warnock of Georgia joined “Morning Joe” to pay tribute to Jackson, who died last month at age 84 after a decade of declining health.
Sharpton, who considered Jackson his mentor, called the civil rights giant and former presidential candidate “an inspirational person.”
“I spent, since I was 12 years old, many hours being chastised by him, mentored by him, and to see him today as we go to this funeral where three former presidents will be there, former vice president and others, gives him the kind of gravitas that he deserves in history,” Sharpton said.
The “Politics Nation” host said Friday’s event is evidence that Jackson, who came from humble beginnings, proved himself to be a “consequential figure” in America’s story.
“We’re not just here because we loved him as a friend,” Sharpton explained. “He helped change his country, and I think that this celebration says that he is a man that came out of squalor, poverty, a single-mother household, and rose to such world effect and impact that we can celebrate him, because his life celebrates us and makes us know we can make it.
“He continued Dr. King’s work, and we must continue Rev. Jackson’s work,” Sharpton added.
Jackson “made America better,” said Warnock, who serves as the senior pastor at Atlanta’s Ebenezer Baptist Church, the same position once held by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.
“I can tell you that as a kid who grew up in public housing, he was, for me, a larger-than-life civil rights superhero,” the senator said.
The Georgia Democrat called Jackson the “bridge between the civil rights activism of Martin Luther King Jr. and today’s modern multiracial coalition politics that made Barack Obama possible and makes it possible for me to sit in the Senate and work on behalf of voting rights, civil rights, and to create a country where every child has a chance.”
“Amidst all the madness in Washington, I had to be here in Chicago to pay homage to a man who, even in death, summons all of us together,” Warnock said.
You can watch the full interview in the clip at the top of the page.
Allison Detzel is an editor/producer for MS NOW. She was previously a segment producer for “AYMAN” and “The Mehdi Hasan Show.”