Hudson Valley leaders remember Rev. Jesse Jackson
Jackson's family announced that he passed away "peacefully."
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Several Hudson Valley leaders mourned the death of Rev. Jesse Jackson on Tuesday.
Teacher Dennis Richmond Jr. recalled meeting the civil rights leader a few years ago.
“I met Rev. Jackson when I was at an HBCU called Claflin University,” Richmond said. “I was able to thank him for the work that he’s done.”
Jackson was born in 1941 in South Carolina. New York State NAACP leader Wilbur Aldridge said Jackson’s work inspired countless people to join the civil rights movement.
“He was definitely an orator, so you listened and you hung on every word he said,” Aldridge said.
The 84-year-old icon worked closely with Martin Luther King Jr. and founded the Rainbow PUSH Coalition, a social justice organization.
Richmond said he plans to teach his students about the organization.
“He wanted people to be united. What’s better today than to learn about someone who wanted people to be united,” he said.
Jackson also led voter registration campaigns and ran for president twice in the 1980s.
Although he has passed on, Aldridge said Jackson’s impact is still felt.
“Especially now, with this climate of trying to eliminate Black history, cover it up, or act as if it never happened,” Aldridge said.
Jackson’s family said public observances will be held in Chicago.
