Community/Civic

Photo by John L. Alexander

Chicago, IL – In celebration and in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King’s mission of feeding the food insecure, Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, Sr., the staff and volunteers will be handing out 150 food baskets 9 a.m. Saturday, December 4th, at the Rainbow PUSH Coalition, 930 E. 50th St.

PUSH officials will be distributing 150 baskets each Saturday in December at 9 a.m. during Founders month for a total of 600 food baskets donated by Jewel’s and Kroger grocery stores.

The 52nd anniversary of the murder of Black Panther leaders Fred Hampton and Mark Clark will be remembered. A panel discussion with Rev. Jackson, Dr. S. Todd Yeary, vice president of the Rainbow PUSH Coalition, and Carmen Bolden Day, the mother of Jelani Day, will be held. Rev. James Meeks, past vice president of PUSH, will keynote the program.

The food giveaway also kicks off Founder’s Month—the 55th anniversary of Rev. Jackson’s civil rights activism with Operation PUSH/Rainbow PUSH Coalition founded on December 25, 1971 at 47th and King Drive. However, his leadership actually began in 1959 when the then 18-year-old University of Illinois student, Jesse Jackson, attempted to use the Greenville, South Carolina library but was denied because he was black. That is when the civil rights “seed” was planted, and his mentor, Dr. King, kept watering that “seed” with marches, boycotts, negotiations and demands for racial and economic parity.Jackson made good his promise and returned to Greenville the next year and along with seven other students, now known as the Greenville 8, held a sit-in on July 16, 1960 at that same white library. They were arrested and ultimately scored a victory when the library was desegregated two months later. That civil rights “seed” continues to grow.It began to glow even more when as a then 23-year-old Chicago Theology Seminary student Jackson organized a group of students and joined Dr. King in Selma, Alabama marching for the right to vote. Jackson was just three courses shy of graduation.When the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) decided to take the civil rights movement North in 1965, a series of meetings took place for the next few years with Rev. Jackson by Dr. King’s side.

In December of 1971, Operation PUSH (People United to Save Humanity) was founded by Rev. Jackson and his pastor, the late Rev. Clay Evans, became the first Board chairman with the late businessman Cirilo McSween as treasurer.  The name was later changed to People United to Serve Humanity.Rev. Jackson continues in the spirit of Dr. King lineage—serving people with pride and a purpose.“Our work is to fulfill Dr. King’s dream,” said Rev. Jackson. “Dr. King made segregation and Jim Crow illegal. Dr. King’s dreams were to fulfill the law. My mission is to fulfill Dr. King’s dreams by making it work.”Referring to December of 1971 and today’s 55th anniversary, Rev. Janette Wilson, senior advisor to Rev. Jackson, said, “In these times of turmoil and challenge, we want to look back 55 years to see how far God has brought us, this organization and people of color particularly African Americans.“When we look at our economic status today, we must compare it within the context of history,” Wilson said. “It is always important to look at our landmarks and look at our points of progress.  “That is what this anniversary month says to us that when Dr. King made his transition and handed the baton to Rev. Jackson in 1966, he sent him to form Operation Breadbasket.“When you look across those 55 years, we’ve seen blacks elected to office that did not exist during Dr. King’s lifetime,” Rev. Wilson said. “You see African American-owned businesses, supply/diversity in the automotive and tech industries, in Silicon Valley and on Wall Street where we were once sold as slaves. We are where God has brought us at this point 55-years later,” Wilson said.

When Rev. Jackson ran for the presidency in 1984, he won 3,282,431 primary votes, or 18.2 percent of the total. He won five primaries and caucuses: Louisiana, the District of Columbia, South Carolina, Virginia and one of two separate contests in Mississippi.In 1988, he won 6.9 million votes and won 11 contests: seven primaries (Alabama, the District of Columbia, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Puerto Rico and Virginia) and four caucuses (Delaware, Michigan, South Carolina and Vermont).One of the most important highlights of Rev. Jackson’s life was running for the U.S. president.  It was in October of 1985 when Rev. Jackson challenged the National Democratic Party’s winner take all rule and got it changed to 15 percent proportionality.The DNC wanted 20 percent threshold. Rev. Jackson wanted 10 percent. They comprised at 15 percent. Because of the rule change, Barack Obama was able to win the Democratic nomination and eventually the presidency.

Reflecting from 1971-to the present, Rev. Wilson said, “We now see ourselves traders on Wall Street rather than products of the Wall Street trade.”However, reflecting on the current voting right bills being opposed by many Republicans, Rev. Wilson said, “We see there is a mood to take us back to where we were; so, the fight continues. The struggle continues. Students are still fighting for the elimination of student loan debt. Black students are still struggling to swim in the corporate mainstream.“There is an international disparity across the globe like Africa which has been targeted with the most rise in COVID. The healthcare disparities are global,” Wilson said. “They want to ban travel to Haiti, to Africa and to people of color around the world rather than provide more vaccines.”

Now, at the age of 80 and on the eve of Founder’s Month (November 30th), Rev. Jackson, who had vowed to get arrested, held a sit-in at the Milwaukee mayor’s office where he told mayoral aides he wasn’t leaving until he met with the mayor. Rev. Jackson and other clergy had earlier held a press conference in Milwaukee’s Rotunda of City Hall demanding that the mayor and the aldermen impose a moratorium on the taxing and taking of churches.When aides saw Rev. Jackson was serious about staying, Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett appeared and joined Rev. Jackson in calling for an end to the “tax and take” church land policy and a system put in place to prevent future seizures of churches.Tavis Grant, who was a part of that sit-in,” said of Rev. Jackson’s strategy, “I think that is one of his traits. When he believes the cause is just and right, the law and people don’t have to be on his side, and it doesn’t have to be popular. He is going to do it anyway.”When the mayor agreed with Rev. Jackson that taxing churches is wrong, Bishop Grant stated, “I think it is a personal victory, but I also think it is a hallmark in terms of Rev. Jackson continuing to use the tools that work. Not only will he not give up, he won’t stop using what works and we proved today, it works.”