Clyburn Delivers Floor Remarks Honoring The Late Reverend Jesse Louis Jackson, Sr.

WASHINGTON, DC - Congressman James E. Clyburn joined the Congressional Black Cacusus to deliver the following remarks on the House floor honoring the late Reverend Jesse Jackson:

Mr. Speaker,

I rise today to honor and pay homage to the late Reverend Jesse Louis Jackson, Sr.

On Tuesday, February 14, 2026, I joined the nation in mourning the passing of one of the most quintessential civil rights leaders - Reverend Jesse Louis Jackson Sr.

Our relationship began as students at rival high schools in South Carolina, he at Sterling in Greenville and me, at Mather Academy in Camden.

Our schools played football and basketball against each other. Jesse was the star quarterback at Sterling, and I was a prolific benchwarmer at Mather. But the rivalry was there. He could play, and I could yell.

That relationship was extended and intensified when he enrolled at North Carolina A&T, an 1890 Land Grant HBCU in Greensboro, NC. I was already attending South Carolina State the 1890 HBCU in our home state.

There was, and still is, an intense rivalry between those two iconic institutions. But, then independent of each other, we both pledged and became members of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity. And it was in that brotherhood, and during our political activism, although not always in the same camp, that we developed a love and respect that lasted throughout the ages. His mother Helen was one of my biggest political boosters and a valued friend.

Jesse and I had a genuine friendship, in large measure, because our mothers "willed" it to be. During my political visits to Greenville and the Piedmont area, his mother Helen and her good friend Lottie Gibson, would make sure I had as much sustenance that their southern fried chicken could provide.

I shall never forget the night I kicked off my campaign for South Carolina's Secretary of State in Georgetown every bit of a four-hour drive from Greenville. Just as that rally began, I looked up and who was walking through the door of that church - Helen Jackson and Lottie Gibson. They had driven all the way from Greenville down to Georgetown, to help me in that effort.

I lost that race and, as one can imagine, with that loss came some anxieties about the future. But as fate would have it, I was destined to serve here Congress and eventually, with two of her grandsons, Jesse's sons. And today, some of our children have become friends. Ours was a friendship that spanned four generations.

Jesse was a son of Greenville, South Carolina. Born to a mother who was just 16 years old at the time of his birth. His grandmother raised him until he was 13, when he was then adopted by his stepfather, Charles Jackson.

Jesse began his activism in the summer of 1960 as a student seeking to desegregate the Greenville Public Library. Jesse recounted how painful it was to not be allowed access to the books in that Library. And after being denied that privilege, Jesse vowed to return that summer to advocate for the library's desegregation. He became a leader in the sit-in movement.

Jesse led seven Black high school students into the whites-only Greenville Public Library. They were arrested for sitting down in that library and became known as "The Greenville Eight." Interestingly, around that same time I became one of the leaders of a sit-in in Orangeburg and some referred to us as the "Orangeburg Seven."

The Greenville Eight ultimately won the right to have access to that library. Today, the Greenville Public Library serves all people, and that episode launched what would become for Jesse, a life of civil rights and political activism.

He became Director of Operation Breadbasket and the founder of the venerable Rainbow PUSH Coalition - an intergenerational movement to uplift "the voiceless and downtrodden." His passion to bring together people of all colors and creeds is a testament to his vision of unity, and oneness, as proclaimed by our nation's motto - E Pluribus Unum - out of many, one.

Operation PUSH became renowned for using direct action, selective buying and creative negotiations to encourage major corporations to be more inclusive, hire more Black executives, and support and contract with Black-owned businesses and corporations.

The Rainbow Coalition was - and is - about dignity, fairness, justice, and hope. As I might say, Jesse worked to make the greatness's of this country accessible and affordable for all.

Jesse's historic presidential runs in 1984 and 1988 were reflective of his strong will, guiding faith, and belief in possibility. Those two precedential campaigns came up short.

But that didn't stop him. Jesse's efforts brought an end to the winner-take-all distribution of delegates, a creative device comparable to those that were prevalent post-Reconstruction.

Where is the fairness when the candidate who gets 51 percent of the votes receives 100 percent of the delegates?

Despite what may be said to the contrary, it is a fact that this change allowed underdogs and non-wealthy candidates to compete, increased voter diversity, and paved the way for future candidates.

Were it not for the proportional voting in our primaries, Barack Obama would not have received or Party's nomination and would not have become our 44^th President of these United States of America. Jesse's efforts were not in vain.

A life lived defying odds, Reverend Jackson showed us that if we remain focused, work hard, and unite in our purpose - we can continue bending the arc of the moral universe towards justice and continuing our "pursuit of a more perfect Union."

Operation Breadbasket, anti-apartheid activism, voter registration, and corporate diversity were among just a few of his initiatives that advanced opportunity and equality for Black Americans.

It should not be lost on any of us the impact that Jesse had on the nation and the world. His visionary leadership is his legacy, and his orations continue to inspire all of us as we continue our pursuit of justice and equality.

In 3 months, we will be celebrating the 250^th anniversary of this country's existence. I quote Thomas Paine's famous words in the opening line of "The American Crisis," published in January 1776 during the American Revolution.

He wrote,

"These are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands by it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph."

Jesse Louis Jackson was not a summer soldier; he was not a sunshine patriot. He stood with the times. And because of his efforts, many of us can stand where we stand today.

Jesse endured setbacks, losses, and the scrutiny of those who did not believe in him. But still, Jesse taught us to renew our faith in what is possible. My favorite Old Testament scripture is Micah 6:8, For he has shown thee old man that which is required, "to do justly, be merciful and walk humbly."

In the late 1970s and 1980s, when this country grew weary of justice, it was Jesse - that led us to keep walking humbly and maintain hope. Jesse believed and internalized the admonition that "faith without works is dead." Jesse's voice calls on each of us to keep that faith.

Jesse understood that we must find the strength to fight for a more perfect union and find the compassion to make it universal. On March 2, 2026, the late Reverend Jesse Jackson returned home to South Carolina, to lie in State at the South Carolina State Capitol. I had the honor of paying homage to him that day and hundreds filed pass his casket to pay our respects.

Jesse's efforts in the place he called home never wavered. In 2015, he came home to advocate for the removal of the Confederate battle flag from the South Carolina state house grounds after nine Black worshippers were killed at Mother Emanuel AME in Charleston by a young white supremacist, who worshiped that flag and wanted his act to start a "race war."

Jesse became the second Black person to lie in state in the South Carolina Capitol. The first was his, and my friend, the late pastor and State Sen. Clementa Pinckney who was one of the "Emanuel 9."

So, I am pleased to be here this evening, and to be a part of this Congressional Black Caucus Special Order Hour to honor Reverend Jesse Louis Jackson.

And I close by thanking his family for what they mean to me and my family. It is an emotional connection that is not easy to explain.

In his 1984, Rainbow Coalition speech, Jesse said, "No matter how difficult the days and dark the nights, there is a brighter side somewhere. In Angola, Mozambique, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Greenville, South Carolina, and Harlem, there is a brighter side."

The impact of his enduring legacy will resonate for years to come. May he take his rightful place among those who have shaped this nation's course and pushed us further toward a more perfect union.