Eric E. Brown Jr., writer and speaker, said he struggled with Jesse Jackson’s controversial decisions and public missteps early in his career, though he later acknowledged Jackson’s influence on civil rights and political participation.
Brown made the remarks following the death of a civil rights leader, Rev. Jesse Jackson, a Baptist minister, civil rights activist, and two-time Democratic presidential candidate. Jackson died Feb. 17 at age 84 at his home in Chicago’s South Shore neighborhood. No cause of death was immediately released. Jackson had been battling progressive supranuclear palsy and announced in 2017 that he had also been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, according to NBC News.
“I Couldn’t Stand Jesse Jackson,” said Brown in a Facebook post. “When I was in my mid 20s, I was part of an organization called APRI, the Asa Philip Randolph Institute. It is a national organization rooted in trade labor unionism, and I was active in its youth wing for nearly a decade.”
Born in Greenville, South Carolina, Jackson relocated to Chicago in 1964 to study at a seminary. He became a close ally of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and took part in major civil rights initiatives, including Operation Breadbasket. He later established Operation PUSH, which evolved into the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition, a nationwide organization advocating for social and economic change.
Jackson sought the Democratic presidential nomination in 1984 and 1988, winning multiple primaries and caucuses and solidifying his status as a significant national political figure. He also served one term as a nonvoting shadow senator for Washington, D.C., representing the district’s interests before Congress.
Brown described his initial impressions when Jackson spoke at a national event.
“At one national event, our president invited Reverend Jesse Jackson to speak,” he said. “At that time in my life, I was not a fan of Jesse Jackson.”
Coverage following his death emphasized varying elements of his legacy. The Chicago Sun-Times highlighted his social justice work and progression from King’s protégé to leader of Operation Breadbasket, founder of Rainbow/PUSH, and presidential candidate. The Chicago Tribune focused on remembrances from his children, depicting him as a dedicated father and enduring advocate for justice.
Some critics contended that Jackson at times exaggerated claims of systemic racism and misrepresented the economic and social challenges facing Black communities, arguing that his political aspirations occasionally strayed from grassroots civil rights activism.
Hosea Williams, a longtime aide to King, challenged Jackson’s assertion that he was holding King when he was fatally shot at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis in 1968, saying Jackson never approached him and accusing him of appearing at a Chicago press conference the next day in a blood-stained shirt in what Williams described as a staged display.
“I realized the only way Jesse could have gotten that blood was to stoop down on that floor of the Lorraine Motel and rake that blood off that floor and put that blood on him, and I went crazy, I really tried to kill Jesse,” Williams said in an interview.
Brown said he struggled to reconcile Jackson’s corporate accountability efforts with his close relationships with those same companies.
“I remember learning about his involvement with Coca-Cola in the late 1990s after Black employees sued the company for racial discrimination,” Brown said. “Jesse Jackson and Operation PUSH stepped in to pressure the company publicly and helped push negotiations that led to policy changes and the settlement… As a young organizer, I struggled with that. I wrestled with whether that kind of relationship blurred the line between holding power accountable and becoming too close to it.”
Pastor, author, and commentator Jesse Lee Peterson characterized Jackson’s legacy as polarizing, connecting his activism to later policy debates over affirmative action, reparations, and diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives, and arguing that his efforts expanded from civil rights advocacy into broader political movements with lasting implications for race relations.
“It went from this idea that racism exists, and somehow or another, we need equal rights,” Peterson told Chicago City Wire. “Then it went from that to affirmative action. Then it went to reparations. And then they called it DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion). It just never ends.”
Brown said the 1984 controversy over Jackson’s derogatory remark about Jewish people left a lasting impression.
“I also remember reading about the 1984 moment when he referred to New York City using a derogatory phrase about Jewish people during a private conversation that later became public,” he said. “That moment caused deep pain and became one of the most defining controversies of his career. He later publicly apologized, met with Jewish leaders, and spent years working to repair those relationships.”
Brown also said a 2008 incident with a live microphone highlighted Jackson’s human flaws.
“Years later, there was also the widely reported moment during the 2008 presidential campaign when a live microphone picked up him expressing frustration with then candidate Barack Obama after Obama spoke about personal responsibility in Black communities,” he said. “Jackson later apologized publicly, acknowledging that his words were wrong and spoken in anger.”
Kenneth R. Timmerman, author of Shakedown: Exposing the Real Jesse Jackson, alleged that Jackson used political influence and accusations of racism to obtain corporate contributions for Rainbow/PUSH, at times reaching $1 million, calling the tactic corporate “shakedowns” that helped shape subsequent diversity policies.
“There are two basic approaches towards the issue of race, especially at that time and going forward,” Timmerman said. “Martin Luther King said you should judge a person on the basis of their character. Jesse Jackson said you should judge them on the basis of the color of their skin and quotas. I think that was a very destructive view.”
Timmerman also claimed Jackson lent credibility to controversial foreign leaders, including Liberian President Charles Taylor and Sierra Leone rebel leader Foday Sankoh, and said Jackson’s involvement in the 1999 Lomé peace agreement granted Sankoh control of Sierra Leone’s diamond mines, fueling the so-called “blood diamond” trade.
Brown said he initially judged Jackson more harshly than he weighed his positive impact.
“Back then, I saw all of this in very simple terms. I judged the flaws more heavily than I weighed the impact. So when I heard him speak that day, I barely listened. It was not because his words lacked truth. It was because my judgment had already decided who he was. Years later, I see that moment differently.”
Brown added that Jackson’s work had a lasting impact despite contradictions in his legacy.
“I may still wrestle with aspects of Jesse Jackson’s legacy, but I cannot deny the impact of his work,” Brown said. “From expanding Black voter participation through the Rainbow Coalition to inspiring generations of candidates who followed, he helped open doors that many of us now walk through.”
Brown also said leadership involves imperfect decisions under pressure.
“I have learned that the path of leadership, especially in movements, is rarely clean,” he said. “It involves imperfect decisions, constant pressures, and the difficult balance between serving community, caring for family, and navigating systems that were never built for us.”
Memorial observances in Chicago are scheduled to commemorate Jackson’s life, including public viewings at Rainbow/PUSH headquarters on Feb. 25–26, a “People’s Celebration” at the House of Hope on Feb. 27, and a Homegoing Service at Rainbow/PUSH on Feb. 28.
Brown is a professional speaker and leadership educator based in Brooklyn, New York, specializing in storytelling, community engagement, and organizational development.
