'He had a radiating aura': Chicagoans say goodbye to hometown civil rights hero Jesse Jackson

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: The Guardian

Sun 1 Mar 2026 08.00 EST
Last modified on Sun 1 Mar 2026 08.02 EST


Some were older, some were younger and some were strangers, but many more were friends – they had lined up down the blocks of Chicago in mercifully mild weather for a chance to say goodbye to the civil rights leader Jesse Jackson. Friday was the last day of public visitation as Jackson lay in repose at the headquarters of his Rainbow/Push political activism coalition in the city he called home.

Jackson died in Chicago on 17 February, at the age of 84. On Saturday he began his last journey, by road from the city near the tip of Lake Michigan to the state of his birth, South Carolina, where he will lie in repose at the state capitol in Columbia ahead of funeral services on Monday.

Standing stoically among the hundreds on Friday was Marva Watts, 85, a retired college professor from the South Side whose husband, the Rev William “Bill” Watts, knew Jackson well. “My late husband, who passed last May, worked very closely with Reverend Jackson and Rainbow/Push many years earlier, you know, in his life, before he took ill,” she said, talking to the Guardian under partly sunny skies and unseasonably warm temperatures after the recent deep freeze.

Watts had turned out in her husband’s memory “and also just in recognition of all the work that Reverend Jackson and his organization have done for our people, for our country as well, just remembering ‘I am somebody’ and ‘keep hope alive’.

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/mar/01/jesse-jackson-casket-chicago

[greatauntoftriplets]

1. I saw him on Michigan Avenue a few times when I worked next to the Chicago Tribune 30+ years ago.

He did have that radiating aura. There was no missing who that tall Black man was, and it wasn't even his always-present entourage.

[BumRushDaShow]

4. It's really scenic around there

with the river. One of our offices was on N. Michigan Ave.

[greatauntoftriplets]

5. It really is beautiful there.

I worked at 401 N. Michigan, between the river and the Tribune. I assumed that Rev. Jackson had been with the Tribune editorial board or being interviewed there.

[BumRushDaShow]

6. I used to chuckle that both the Tribune and Sun-Times were right near each other too

along the river.

[greatauntoftriplets]

7. I think that the Sun-Times moved to that location in the 1950s.

Before that, they were on Canal Street and along the river, not far from the two still-existing train stations.

Sadly, the old Sun-Times site is now occupied by that ugly building whose name must not be spoken.

[BumRushDaShow]

8. Be glad they are still in actual "buildings"

The Philly Inquirer used to be in their own building below -



Then they sold that and moved to a couple of floors in the old Strawbridge's department store, and more recently moved to a couple floors in the old Rohm & Haas building right near Independence Hall.

That Inquirer building now has the Philly police department in it.

[greatauntoftriplets]

9. The Tribune Tower was converted into expensive condominiums.

I'm not even sure anymore where either newspaper's office is these days.

[BumRushDaShow]

10. That's what most are doing with those older buildings.

[greatauntoftriplets]

11. And there's a glut of downtown office space that brokers can't rent.

These condos range from about $900,000 to nearly $5 million. I don't know where all the people who can afford these places come from, given the number of downtown high-end condos. No one I know, for sure.

[BumRushDaShow]

12. Money laundering

and/or parking money in them. Those types of units are everywhere - not just in the older classic buildings but now newer skyscrapers. There's no way that there are people in all of them.

I remember when these buildings were just holes in the ground and me and my sister were standing on the corner waiting for the SEPTA bus next to the construction site to go to school (we went to school downtown and caught a commuter train with the line that ended a few blocks from there - I still have the commemorative coin from when they opened) -



The complex was just in the news the past couple days as they were bought and will become mixed use - a hotel and residential, etc.

https://www.inquirer.com/real-estate/commercial/centre-square-conversion-pmc-dean-adler-20260228.html

[greatauntoftriplets]

13. True. Many buyers are probably offshore people.

There's going to be a lot of condos in those two buildings. I hope the developer builds in plenty of parking.

[AllaN01Bear]

2. ""

[riversedge]

3. Thank you for all you have done to help folks.

[SCantiGOP]

14. He is lying in state at SC Capitol tomorrow

I will be there as will most of the core group that has been attending protests the past year.
I met him several times. He did have an incredible and immediate charisma.

[calimary]

17. Oh good!

I look forward to your reports from the scene!

[murielm99]

15. I went to several of the church services in the 60's,

when Rev. Jackson was the leader of Operation Breadbasket, later Operation Push.

I attended a nearby Christian university, where we were required to take a certain number of theology classes. Don't think for one minute that these were fluff classes. They were work! My comparative religion and comparative Christianity classes were exhausting. I took an entire class on Old Testament prophets and Psalms.

I took a class called The Church and the Race issue. We studied a great deal of American history and the history of how slaves and later free black people were treated by the establishment churches. I learned things I never dreamed of.

One of the required activities was attendance of at least two of the church services of Operation Breadbasket, later Operation Push. And while these meetings were informative social and musical events, they were indeed church services. They were exuberant. They lasted all morning. Church was never so much fun! The services included guest appearances by all sorts of black politicians and entertainers. I saw Cannonball Adderley and Sammy Davis Junior. I listened to the incredibly talented choir. Reverend Jackson sat on the edge of the stage and chatted informally with some of us before the services. I spoke with him at all three of my visits.

I was required to write a detailed paper about my attendance. I needed to include details about the guests and the speakers, including Reverend Jackson's sermon. I still remember his sermon about hunger in the community and the need for a program like food stamps, which started during that time. I remember him talking about welfare and how it was nothing to be ashamed of. He described the government subsidies to various corporations and businesses, and said of each one, "That's welfare." It became a responsive chant.

In my written class assignment, I was required to reflect on whether or not I had learned anything about "black theology." That was a tough one. I don't remember how I responded.

This was one of the most rewarding experiences of my undergraduate education. God bless the teacher who assigned this. The memory still brings tears to my eyes.

[Aussie105]

18. I've seen that aura before.

It's barely controlled rage at the injustice of it all.