A tribute was held at New Mount Rose Baptist Church in the Morningside neighborhood on Thursday for the late politician and civil rights activist Jesse Jackson who died Tuesday.
Kamal Morgan
The Rev. Kyev Tatum remembered watching Jesse Jackson’s 1988 speech at the Democratic National Convention in Atlanta from his dorm room at the University of North Texas. Before, Tatum had only thought of himself as a dumb jock on the football team. Jackson’s speech was electrifying, Tatum said, as he spoke about growing up poor in racially segregated South Carolina to then become the runner‑up for the Democratic presidential nomination. Jackson inspired Tatum to take control of an awakening that had grown inside of him from watching civil rights icons and documentaries. He wanted to fight for the civil rights of people who had the same poor upbringing in Fort Worth as he did. Over the years, Tatum advocated for education at the state capitol, was appointed to several local, state, and federal advisory boards, and went to Uvalde after the 2022 school shooting to support their healing process. Before he went to Uvalde, Jackson called him and said, “Don’t be political, be spiritual.” Those words stuck with him ever since. “No one has had more of an impact on my life than Jesse Jackson,” Tatum said. Jackson, a civil rights activist, politician, and founder of the Rainbow PUSH Coalition, died Tuesday at 84. His death changed the focus of a Thursday meeting at Tatum’s church, New Mount Rose Baptist Church, in the Morningside neighborhood, where a dozen people attended. The meeting was to celebrate L.D. Livingston’s 121st birthday. Livingston is in a traveling exhibition called “Hidden Crowns of Cowtown,” which highlights four Fort Worth Negro Baseball legends. The meeting started with prayer and food. Tatum then showed a video of Jackson’s 1988 speech. There were a few speakers, including former longtime Star-Telegram columnist Bob Ray Sanders, who joked about being mistaken for Jackson on a few occasions. Sanders said Jackson’s legacy should be remembered and shared with future generations because Jackson helped pave the way for the presidency of Barack Obama. Jackson was a vivid storyteller who was disliked by many, yet told the truth about what he endured. Sanders experienced a racially segregated Fort Worth and could relate to Jackson’s struggles in his stories, which also inspired him to speak the truth as a writer. “He gave me the courage that it’s OK to speak up and not to worry about what anybody’s going to say afterward,” Sanders said. Pierre Gant, a community activist, said Jackson supported all people, especially those who looked like him. Jackson reinforced Blackness as beautiful and Black people as somebody, and that lit a fuse in people like Gant. “I like to believe that I can be myself and walk into any room here in Texas where I get the opportunity to serve, and I still can be me,” Gant said. “I can thank that to people like Jesse Jackson.”
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Kamal Morgan covers racial equity issues for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. He came to Texas from the Pensacola News Journal in Florida. Send tips to his email or Twitter.