{"id":136391,"date":"2026-02-17T18:34:27","date_gmt":"2026-02-17T18:34:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/136391\/"},"modified":"2026-02-17T18:34:27","modified_gmt":"2026-02-17T18:34:27","slug":"rev-al-sharpton-credits-mentor-jesse-jackson-for-his-own-activism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/136391\/","title":{"rendered":"Rev. Al Sharpton credits mentor Jesse Jackson for his own activism"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Rev. Al Sharpton said Tuesday that Jesse Jackson<\/a> was to him what Martin Luther King Jr. was to Jackson \u2014 a mentor and father figure who showed him how to effectively advocate for marginalized people.<\/p>\n

Hours after Jackson died Tuesday at the age of 84<\/a>, Sharpton reminisced about Jackson\u2019s impact on the world, from rescuing hostages abroad to running for president back home.<\/p>\n

\u201dI\u2019m not talking about someone who was some removed figure in history,\u201d Sharpton told reporters at a Manhattan news conference. \u201cHe literally changed American politics and New York politics. I\u2019m going to make sure as long as I\u2019m alive that he gets the credit.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sharpton was just a 14-year-old boy preacher when Jackson, a King lieutenant, tapped him to be the youth director<\/a> of the Brooklyn branch of Jackson\u2019s Operation Breadbasket economic empowerment campaign.<\/p>\n

\"Rev.Rev. Jesse Jackson (L) and Rev. Al Sharpton arrive at NYPD headquarters on March 26, 1999, for a protest against the shooting of unarmed African immigrant Amadou Diallo. (HENNY RAY ABRAMS\/AFP via Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Like Jackson, Sharpton had grown up without his father around and the two made a connection that lasted more than 50 years.<\/p>\n

Sharpton credited Jackson for keeping him grounded, active and aware.<\/p>\n

\u201cI went from being bitter to trying to be better,\u201d Sharpton said. \u201cHe taught me that it\u2019s not how you\u2019re born, but where you go.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Rev.Rev. Al Sharpton and Rev. Jesse Jackson appear onstage during the first day of the Democratic National Convention at the United Center on August 19, 2024 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Jackson went all the way to the top of the national Democratic Party as the presidential front runner in 1988 until he lost the nomination to Massachusetts Gov. Michael Dukakis.<\/p>\n

Sharpton said Jackson\u2019s historic campaigns paved the way for David Dinkins to become New York City\u2019s first Black mayor in 1989 and for Barack Obama to become the nation\u2019s first Black president in 2008.<\/p>\n

\u201dHe literally changed the party,\u201d<\/a> Sharpton said. \u201cHe registered so many new voters that had not been calculated before.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Rev.Rev. Al Sharpton speaks to reporters about Jesse Jackson Tuesday. (AP Photo\/Seth Wenig)<\/p>\n

Sharpton spoke warmly about the Christmas holidays his family spent at Jackson\u2019s home in Chicago, and the little things he learned from Jackson in private moments and in 6 a.m. phone calls.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was never threatened by people older than him or younger than him,\u201d Sharpton said..\u201dHe just kept his eyes on the prize\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Rev. Al Sharpton said Tuesday that Jesse Jackson was to him what Martin Luther King Jr. was…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":136392,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[267,75,84,83,607,86,9,24,692,12,63,87],"class_list":{"0":"post-136391","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-manhattan","8":"tag-local-news","9":"tag-manhattan","10":"tag-manhattan-headlines","11":"tag-manhattan-news","12":"tag-national-news","13":"tag-national-politics","14":"tag-new-york","15":"tag-new-york-city","16":"tag-new-york-politics","17":"tag-news","18":"tag-nyc","19":"tag-politics"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136391","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=136391"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136391\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/136392"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=136391"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=136391"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=136391"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}