Jackson Was a Complicated and Controversial Figure, but Also Hugely Consequential

Ruben Navarrette
Tue, 17 Feb 2026 18:16:54 -0800
Opinion

SAN DIEGO — What I remember about the one time I met the Rev. Jesse Jackson is how it turned into a multilingual affair.

It was 1994, and I was co-hosting a nightly 9 p.m. to midnight talk show for ABC radio in Los Angeles. My co-host, Tavis Smiley, had heard from Jackson, who was in town for an event with the Rev. Al Sharpton. Tavis invited him to come by the station, but Jackson was non-committal. At about 11:15 p.m., both Jackson and Sharpton showed up. The four of us talked on air about race and politics and power.

In all the years since, I've never seen Sharpton so quiet. Deferring to his mentor, he barely said a word. Jackson did most of the talking.
Updated: Tue Feb 17, 2026

SAN DIEGO — What I remember about the one time I met the Rev. Jesse Jackson is how it turned into a multilingual affair.

It was 1994, and I was co-hosting a nightly 9 p.m. to midnight talk show for ABC radio in Los Angeles. My co-host, Tavis Smiley, had heard from Jackson, who was in town for an event with the Rev. Al Sharpton. Tavis invited him to come by the station, but Jackson was non-committal. At about 11:15 p.m., both Jackson and Sharpton showed up. The four of us talked on air about race and politics and power.

In all the years since, I've never seen Sharpton so quiet. Deferring to his mentor, he barely said a word. Jackson did most of the talking.

Although only 27 at the time, my youth didn't prevent me from pushing back. At one point, I said something that Jackson agreed with. And — in a subtle nod to my ethnicity — he expressed his approval with some accentuated Spanish.

"Muchas gracias," Jackson said with a mix of humor and condescension.

Now, as I process the news that Jackson — who was born in Greenville, S.C. on Oct. 8, 1941 — has passed away at 84, that memory makes me smile. What a remarkable life, especially since it was never supposed to turn out that way.

In that life, Jackson said and did things he shouldn't have said or done. This was not a perfect man. But then, perfection rarely finds its way into a eulogy.

As noted by The Times of Israel, the Black leader had "rocky relations" with American Jews. In the 1980's, he was friends with Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, supported Yasser Arafat and the Palestinian Liberation Organization, and described New York City as "Hymietown" — for which he later apologized.

In 2001, Jackson released a statement admitting he had an extramarital affair that produced a daughter who was then nearly 2 years old. Ironically, Jackson was having the affair around the same time that he was counseling former President Bill Clinton after his affair with former White House intern Monica Lewinsky came to light.

And in 2008, in a hot mic moment, Jackson made an off-color comment about castrating Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., because the Baptist minister was upset that the presidential hopeful was talking so much about black fathers abandoning their families.

Jackson himself was born to a single, teenage mother. He lived with violence, racism and low expectations. Yet, he never let society tell him what he was going to be. And he became one of the most consequential figures in public life in the last 50 years.

As a member of Generation X, I'm a child of the 1980s. In a time long forgotten, teenagers talked with each other and had to confront different points of view. Without echo chambers and cancel culture, we let the opinions fly.

Living in a small farm town, we constantly searched for ways to stay entertained. One way that my Mexican Americans and I could light up classmates was to blurt out the name, "Jesse Jackson." Our white friends would see red.

Today, members of Black Lives Matter, Occupy Wall Street or Antifa are seen as left-wing radicals. Back then, Jackson was considered far left.

When the reverend traveled the country and heard from those who felt ignored, overlooked and written off, it was like he was looking into a mirror.

In 1984 and 1988, Jackson ran for president over the objections of the honchos of the Democratic Party. Twice, he spoke at the Democratic National Convention.

In the 1984 speech, Jackson issued a mea culpa:

"If, in my low moments, in word, deed or attitude, through some error of temper, taste or tone, I have caused anyone discomfort, created pain or revived someone's fears, that was not my truest self...God is not finished with me yet."

In the 1988 speech, Jackson — who had won 13 primaries and caucuses — got a standing ovation when he told a story about his grandmother sewing patches into a quilt.

"When we form a great quilt of unity and common ground, we'll have the power to bring about health care and housing and jobs and education and hope to our Nation," he told delegates. "We, the people, can win!"

Congratulations, Rev. You fought the good fight. You comforted the abused, and you lifted up the forgotten. In all the ways that count, you won.

Thanks very much for putting in the work. Muchas gracias.