“Jesse was a force of nature like few others before him. He had much to do with the Election, without acknowledgment or credit, of Barack Hussein Obama, a man who Jesse could not stand. He loved his family greatly, and to them I send my deepest sympathies and condolences. Jesse will be missed! President DONALD J. TRUMP.”
Jackson – who ran to be the Democratic presidential candidate twice in 1984 and 1988 – had a relationship of mutual respect with Obama, and supported his run to the White House.
However, in 2008, while Obama was running for president, Jackson was caught off-air on mic during an appearance on Fox and Friends saying he wanted to “cut his nuts off” after Obama made comments about absentee fathers in the African-American community.
Jackson did apologise for the remark, and famously cried with joy at Obama’s 2008 election victory, due to Obama becoming the first African-American president, the ultimate achievement of the civil rights movement he spearheaded.
Over several years, Trump has shared conspiracy theories that Obama had not been born in the United States, and was therefore not eligible to be president.
Records show that Obama was born on August 4, 1961, in Hawaii. His mother was an American citizen.
Since the news of Jackson’s death, countless tributes have been made to the man who worked alongside Reverend Martin Luther King jnr to secure rights for black Americans.
Former US president Joe Biden said in a post on X: “Reverend Jackson believed in his bones the promise of America: that we are all created equal in the image of God and deserve to be treated equally throughout our lives.
“While we’ve never fully lived up to that promise, he dedicated his life to ensuring we never fully walked away from it either.”
Martin Luther King III – the eldest son of Martin Luther King – said in a statement: “Reverend Jackson was more than a civil rights advocate – he was a living bridge between generations, carrying forward the unfinished work and sacred promise of the Civil Rights Movement.”
Jackson marched alongside King in 1965 in Selma, Alabama, and was with him on the day he was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee in 1968.
Jesse’s granddaughter Donatella Jackson took to Instagram to say “it is a blessing to carry your name forward”.
Donatella posted that she is “thankful for the unconditional love, the endless support and the steadfastness with which you doted me, constantly stepping up as the leader I needed when many could not meet the moment, as you have done for so many others”.
Jackson died “peacefully on Tuesday morning surrounded by his family” after a long struggle with declining health including a Parkinson’s disease diagnosis and a battle with progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP), which affects walking and swallowing.
