Reverend Jesse Jackson is considering stepping down as president of the Chicago civil rights organization he founded in 1971.
A spokesperson for her son, Rep. Jonathan Jackson, confirmed the news to Associated press Friday. The spokesperson said the longtime civil rights leader will step down as leader of the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition this year.
Illinois Democrat Jonathan Jackson said his father “was always on the justice scene and never stopped fighting for civil rights.”
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Two-time presidential candidate Reverend Jesse Jackson started the nonprofit after breaking away from the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in 1971.
His organization was originally called People United to Save Humanity and was later renamed Rainbow/PUSH Coalition.
The group focuses on encouraging businesses to hire more minorities and spearheads voter registration drives in communities of color.
The organization’s website states that its mission is to “protect, defend and achieve civil rights by leveling the economic and educational playing field, and to promote peace and justice in the world”.
Jackson plans to formally announce his decision to step down on Sunday at the organization’s annual convention, his son told the Chicago Sun-Times.
The congressman said his father’s “current health and condition” was behind the decision.
The eldest Jackson turns 82 in October this year.
In 2017, he announced that he was being treated for Parkinson’s disease. In November 2021, he was hospitalized after falling and hitting his head while visiting Howard University where students were protesting conditions on campus. Earlier that year, Jackson was hospitalized in Chicago after contracting a breakthrough case of COVID-19
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