From the UWF Executive Committee (2/17/2026):
Today, our movement lost a tireless champion of justice. Reverend Jesse Jackson Sr. was a visionary leader and organizer who dedicated his life to building power alongside communities battling the forces of racial and economic oppression. From the strike line to the voting booth to the streets, Reverend Jackson’s legacy is felt all across the world at every site of struggle. His work lives in every march for liberation, every picket or boycott, and every push to fulfill community needs in the face of exploitation. He understood and modeled the power of coalitions that are multi-racial, multi-national, and rooted in an ethic of Black liberation.
From labor leader A. Philip Randolph’s Freedom Budget to Senator Bernie Sanders, Reverend Jackson is the forerunner and through-line of progressive politics. In 1984 and 1988, he stood on presidential stages and called for reparations, Medicare for All, nuclear disarmament, an end to South African apartheid, Palestinian rights, the reversal of tax cuts for the ultra rich, and the reinvestment of an exorbitant military budget into transit, healthcare, and education infrastructure to benefit the masses. This transformative, people-centered, and pro-justice agenda expanded what was possible to demand in a policy agenda, and we see national beneficiaries today in Senator Bernie Sanders and the Squad as well as our own UWF champions Mayor Brandon Johnson and Congresswoman Delia Ramirez.
Reverend Jackson was a steadfast presence and a voice of moral clarity in every progressive fight in our city. His coalition politics and thought partnership helped shape our vision for United Working Families and the agendas, built on equity and guaranteed dignity of all communities, that catapulted our electeds into office. Our movement is grateful for his leadership and mentorship.
In 1984, Reverend Jackson had a message for young people: that they must exercise the right to dream and “use hope and imagination as weapons for survival and progress.” We honor the legacy of Reverend Jesse L. Jackson Sr. through an unwavering commitment to hope, act, fight, and dream collectively.
