March 7, 2026
In The Spirit of Jesse Jackson, Obama And Sharpton Urge New Generation To Keep The Fight Alive
Without directly naming the current Trump administration, Obama warned that democratic institutions are under attack.
President Barack Obama and the Rev. Al Sharpton honored the late civil rights leader Jesse Jackson at his memorial service by continuing Jackson’s longstanding mission to uplift.
Obama first reflected on what he described as a troubling political climate. Without directly naming the current Trump administration, Obama warned that democratic institutions are under attack, yet as Jackson asserted time and time again, Black people still belong.
“We are living in a time when it can be hard to hope,” Obama said. “Each day we wake up to some new assault on our democratic institutions.”
Obama also credited Jackson’s decades of activism with reshaping American politics and opening doors for future generations of Black leaders. He said Jackson’s presidential campaigns in the 1980s helped inspire and blaze a path forward for his own political career.
“The message he sent … was that maybe there wasn’t any place or any room where we didn’t belong,” Obama said.
Civil rights leader Rev. Al Sharpton also delivered emotional remarks during the service. Rev. Sharpton recalled Jackson’s role as a mentor and strategist within the modern civil rights movement. He stressed the need to carry forward the work Jackson spent decades building. Unlike Obama, Sharpton named the perceived adversary to democracy. He sharply criticized Trump and made clear that Jackson’s legacy of resistance should inspire all to continue the fight. He urged attendees and observers to “Leave here with some Jackson fire in you, not just a program book.”
“To leave here and not find an assignment, what not be what Jesse Jackson taught us,” he said. “We’ve beaten people bigger than Trump.”
Speakers throughout the ceremony described Jackson as a bridge between the civil rights movement of the 1960s and contemporary struggles for voting rights and economic justice.
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