The Rev. Al Sharpton said Tuesday that Jesse Jackson was to him what Martin Luther King Jr. was to Jackson — a mentor and father figure who showed him how to effectively advocate for marginalized people.
Hours after Jackson died Tuesday at the age of 84, Sharpton reminisced about Jackson’s impact on the world, from rescuing hostages abroad to running for president back home.
”I’m not talking about someone who was some removed figure in history,” Sharpton told reporters at a Manhattan news conference. “He literally changed American politics and New York politics. I’m going to make sure as long as I’m alive that he gets the credit.”
Sharpton was just a 14-year-old boy preacher when Jackson, a King lieutenant, tapped him to be the youth director of the Brooklyn branch of Jackson’s Operation Breadbasket economic empowerment campaign.
“He was one who was more responsible than anyone for teaching me activism,” Sharpton said.
Like Jackson, Sharpton had grown up without his father around, and the two made a connection that lasted more than 50 years.
Sharpton credited Jackson for keeping him grounded, active and aware.
“I went from being bitter to trying to be better,” Sharpton said. “He taught me that it’s not how you’re born, but where you go.”
Jackson went all the way to the top of the national Democratic Party as the presidential front-runner in 1988 until he lost the nomination to Massachusetts Gov. Michael Dukakis.
Sharpton said Jackson’s historic campaigns paved the way for David Dinkins to become New York City’s first Black mayor in 1989 and for Barack Obama to become the nation’s first Black president in 2008.
”He literally changed the party,” Sharpton said. “He registered so many new voters that had not been calculated before.”
Sharpton said he always wondered about the trauma Jackson suffered witnessing King’s assassination on a Memphis motel balcony. Jackson was one of the last people to whom King spoke.
“He never would talk about it,” Sharpton said. “But it drove him. He kept saying, ‘Keep Dr. King’s dream alive.’”
Sharpton spoke warmly about the Christmas holidays his family spent at Jackson’s home in Chicago and the little things he learned from Jackson in private moments and in 6 a.m. phone calls.
“He was never threatened by people older than him or younger than him,” Sharpton said. ”He just kept his eyes on the prize.”
He said Jackson kept going when he had nothing left to prove, but plenty to still fight for.
“He said he never learned how to retire,” Sharpton said. “He said, ‘You got to remember, Al. Dr King was killed at 39 years old. Malcolm X was killed at 39. We were never raised to be 40 years old. I woke up one day at 55 and realized there is no retirement plan for us.’”
