Remembrances of Jesse Jackson’s life, ministry

A week after my life-altering experience of meeting Dr. Martin Luther King Jr,. which changed my life from a Southern bigot to a recovering racist, I crossed the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama, in March of 1965.

The march to the state Capitol of Montgomery was led by Dr. King, Rev. Jesse Jackson, Congressman John Lewis and others. I returned to the Aurora College (now University) campus determined to be more involved in the civil rights movement. I was surprised at the lack of interest in my classmates who had not been taught racial superiority as I had in segregated Jim Crow schools.

I believed that, more liberal and progressive, they would be supportive.They were not. Some said I had gone too far. So to make a difference and to “do something like get into good trouble,” as U.S. Rep. John Lewis would later say say, I began to read books by King and articles on racism to learn facts about our country that I was not taught growing up, all the while being open to concrete action.

The next year in the summer of 1966, I connected with a new friend on my part-time courier route in Chicago who tutored me on volunteering. So I joined a number of marches for open housing in Chicago with the Rev. Jesse Jackson. While I was nervous at the Selma march a year earlier, I was really scared marching in Chicago neighborhoods as bricks, bottles and angry words were hurled at marchers..

I saw Rev. Jackson several times at public events, attending Operation Breadbasket, a job creating program of King’s Southern Christian Leadership Conference that transformed into People United to Save Humanity (Operation PUSH) and later again morphed into the Rainbow PUSH Coalition in 1996.

On one occasion, with the help of a state legislator, I was able to sit down with Rev. Jackson in his PUSH office for a memorable conversation. He was gracious, even humble, as he listened to my story.

In the Summer of 1967, I was the Director of a Youth Program sponsored by a Black church in Chicago’s Lawndale neighborhood. I learned much being a minority in the neighborhood and listened to the stories of children and youth about what it is like being Black.

We did the usual activities in a summer program, and I often took groups to Operation Breadbasket to hear Rev. Jackson pump up the crowd, reminding all gathered to “remember you are somebody, you are special, you are God’s child, so go out and make a difference. And don’t let nobody turn you around!”

Several of those young people have gone on to be change-making leaders in vital professions.

The last time I saw Rev. Jackson in person was about 10 years ago with a small gathering at Chicago Theological Seminary in Hyde Park. Jackson had first enrolled there in 1964, coming from the South to further his education and prepare for ordained ministry. He was being honored for his service in making the world a better place.

Those in the Northwest suburbs who have attended the annual Martin Luther King Jr. Remembrance Dinner over the years may recall that Jackson was the keynote speaker in 1974, 1981 and 1989. People sometimes forget that most of the leaders of the Civil Rights Movement of the ‘60s and ‘70s were pastors like Dr. King. Much taller than King, Jackson was a gifted orator and master of memorable phrases like the lifeaffirming “I am somebody,” “Black and proud” and “keep hope alive.”

One of Jackson’s close friends and justice workers said that Jackson “taught me that protest must have purpose, that faith must have feet, and that justice is not seasonal, it is daily work,” adding that Jackson taught “trying is as important as triumph. That you do not wait for the dream to come true; you work to make it real.”

I am thankful for the life, ministry and leadership of the Rev. Jesse L. Jackson who demonstrated what justice work looks like and did not hesitate to be present where injustice raises its ugly head. And I dare to believe those protesting the overreach of ICE who gather weekly in Palatine and other suburban communities continue in this spirit.

Let us all keep hope alive.

• The Rev. Dr. John Alan Boryk is a retired United Methodist pastor from Des Plaines.