New Yorkers are mourning the loss of Rev. Jesse Jackson, a civil rights icon, influential Baptist minister and one of the strongest American voices for racial and economic justice, who died on Tuesday at the age of 84.<\/p>\n
Jackson\u2019s family said in an official statement that he died peacefully on Feb. 17, surrounded by loved ones.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cOur father was a servant leader, not only to our family, but to the oppressed, the voiceless and the overlooked around the world,\u201d the statement read. \u201cWe shared him with the world, and in return, the world became part of our extended family.\u201d<\/p>\n
While his cause of death was not immediately available, he was admitted to a hospital in November and battled Parkinson\u2019s disease, according to reports<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n Born in Greenville, SC, on Oct. 8, 1941, Jackson led a life that maintained a commitment to justice and human rights. To many Americans, he appeared to pick up the peaceful fight for equality that Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. led before he was assassinated on April 4, 1968, in Memphis, TN.\u00a0<\/p>\n Jackson witnessed the assassination of King, etched infamously in history, as he was staying at the same motel, the Lorraine Motel, when the fatal shooting of his mentor occurred.\u00a0<\/p>\n Jackson amplified marginalized voices throughout his career, becoming a leading civil rights activist in the 1980s and 1990s, leading and participating in demonstrations in NYC and across the country. He also ran for U.S. President multiple times. He came close to securing the Democratic nominee in 1988, but lost to Michael Dukakis, then-governor of Massachusetts.\u00a0<\/p>\n He started the Rainbow PUSH Coalition in 1996, where he and his team provided scholarships, facilitated hirings of minority workers, and saved the homes of thousands of families who face foreclosure.\u00a0<\/p>\n But Jackson\u2019s civil rights activism was not without scandal. During his first presidential bid in 1984, he referred to Jewish people as \u201chymies\u201d and called New York City \u201chymietown\u201d during a media interview. He later apologized at a synagogue<\/a>, saying, \u201chowever innocent and unintended, it was wrong\u201d to use the slur.\u00a0<\/p>\n New Yorkers react to the death of Jesse Jackson<\/p>\n Fellow civil rights leader Rev. Al Sharpton, known for his outspoken style, called Jackson his mentor.<\/p>\n \u201cI just prayed with his family by phone. He was a consequential and transformative leader who changed this nation and the world,\u201d Sharpton said in a statement. \u201cHe shaped public policy and changed laws. He kept the dream alive and taught young children from broken homes, like me, that we don\u2019t have broken spirits.\u201d<\/p>\n Reverend Jackson was a fixture at countless demonstrations across NYC throughout the 1980s and 1990s. While he sometimes clashed with police over civil disobedience, he was known for maintaining civility and peace with many officers, bridging the divide between community organizing and law enforcement.\u00a0<\/p>\n Retired NYPD Lieutenant Gerard Lennon recalled arresting Jackson during a 1999 demonstration in front of One Police Plaza, where hundreds of protestors blocked the building\u2019s entrance in protest of the police shooting of unarmed African immigrant Amadou Diallo that same year. <\/p>\n After arresting Jackson for obstructing the entrance, Lennon said Jackson was a \u201cgentleman\u201d during the entire process.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n \u201cI was introduced to him at about 9:30 a.m. He told me he wanted to be arrested at about 10 a.m. At that exact time, he nodded to me, walked over to the front entrance of 1PP, and lay down,\u201d Lennon recalled about the incident.<\/p>\n The lieutenant said he then calmly walked over to Jackson to place him under arrest.\n<\/p>\n \u201cI told Mr. Jackson he was under arrest for blocking the entrance. He stood up, said \u2018thank you\u2019 to me, and placed his hands behind his back to be handcuffed,\u201d Lennon said.<\/p>\n