Local Leaders Mourn Rev. Jesse Jackson, Recall Decades of Activism

Rev. Jesse Jackson (Photo courtesy of William Paparian private collection)

Tributes poured in Tuesday following the death of Jesse Jackson at age 84, with leaders across California and beyond remembering the civil rights icon as a tireless champion for justice, voting rights, and human dignity.

By News Desk

Los Angeles County Board Chair and First District Supervisor Hilda L. Solis issued a statement mourning Jackson as “a towering leader of the civil rights movement who devoted his life to fighting for justice and dignity for working people and communities too often left behind.”

“Rev. Jackson was a tireless advocate for civil rights, voting rights, and economic opportunity,” Solis said. “His leadership helped inspire generations of activists and public servants, and his historic presidential campaigns helped pave the way for more inclusive representation in our nation’s highest offices.”

Jackson’s groundbreaking bids for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1984 and 1988 reshaped national politics, expanding the electorate and building multiracial coalitions that influenced future generations of leaders.

Solis reflected on her personal experiences working alongside Jackson during her tenure in Congress and later as U.S. Secretary of Labor. She recalled walking with him across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama, calling it “a powerful reminder of the sacrifices made to secure the right to vote and the work still left to do.”

“His impact reached far beyond our borders through his work for diplomacy, peace, and human rights,” Solis added. “His legacy will endure in the movements he strengthened and the leaders he inspired. Rev. Jackson’s life was a testament to faith, courage, and hope. May he rest in power.”

Former Pasadena Mayor William Paparian also reflected on Jackson’s legacy, recalling a vivid and emotional moment during a May 19, 1984 rally at the Armenian Center in Pasadena.

“The rally burns in my memory with an almost unbearable emotional weight — a raw, aching convergence of hope, grief, and defiant solidarity that still tightens my chest when I think of it,” Paparian said.

Paparian, who introduced Jackson at the event, described him not merely as a presidential candidate but as “a brother in the long fight for justice.” He said Jackson’s inclusive vision of the Rainbow Coalition resonated deeply with Pasadena’s Armenian American community.

During the rally, Jackson spoke openly about the Armenian Genocide, Paparian recalled, calling it a crime against humanity and condemning its denial. “Your pain is not invisible,” Jackson told the crowd, according to Paparian. “No more silence. No more erasure. We stand with you — because your struggle is ours, woven into the same fabric of human dignity.”

Paparian said Jackson linked the suffering of Armenians to the legacy of lynchings in the American South, the exploitation of farmworkers, and violence against marginalized communities, urging solidarity across racial and ethnic lines.

“We build this rainbow not because it’s easy, but because it’s right,” Jackson declared at the rally, Paparian recounted. “Because every tear shed, every life stolen, demands we rise together.”

After the event, Paparian said Jackson lingered to greet attendees, offering words of encouragement. “Keep fighting, brother. This is just the beginning,” Jackson told him.

Reflecting on Jackson’s passing, Paparian said the memory of that day stands as a testament to the reverend’s unwavering commitment to justice.

“In an era of rising division, where ethnic tensions and historical denials persist, we must heed his call to lock arms across communities,” Paparian said. “Jesse Jackson didn’t just speak truth to power; he embodied it. Let us honor him.”