Friday’s memorial service for Jesse Jackson in Chicago featured a host of remarks and tributes to the deceased civil rights leader and presidential candidate, with three former U.S. presidents among those giving remarks. However, the comments delivered by these former heads of state didn’t sit well with Jackson’s son, who made his opinion known the next day.
Jesse Jackson Jr. condemns ex-presidents’ remarks at his father’s memorial service
Former Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., D-Ill., spoke Saturday and expressed his displeasure at some of the remarks made by former Presidents Joe Biden, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama the day before.
“Yesterday I listened for several hours of three United States presidents who do not know Jesse Jackson,” Jackson Jr. said Saturday while eulogizing his father in front of Chicago’s Rainbow/PUSH Coalition headquarters. Jackson’s oldest son argued that his father “maintained a tense relationship with the political order, not because the presidents were white or Black, but the demands of our message, the demands of speaking for the least of these — those who are disinherited, the damned, the dispossessed, the disrespected — demanded not Democratic or Republican solutions, but demanded a consistent, prophetic voice that at no point in time sold us out as a people.”
WOW
: Jesse Jackson Jr. just DROPPED this at his father’s memorial:
“I listened to three United States presidents who did not know Jesse Jackson.”
He added: His father had a “tense relationship with the political order” because of the demands of justice—not race or party.… pic.twitter.com/7HrcIIx3pQ
— Officer Lew (@officer_Lew) March 8, 2026
Jackson Jr.’s eulogy of his father came one day after the three living Democratic ex-presidents, as well as former Vice President Kamala Harris, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and others remembered the elder Jackson at a celebration of his life.
As Blavity reported, Jackson Jr. had previously requested of attendees, “Do not bring your politics, out of respect to Reverend Jesse Jackson and the life that he lived, to these homegoing services.”
Obama and Biden condemned the Trump administration
While many of the remarks made at Friday’s service centered on Jackson’s life and impact, the Democratic politicians also commented on the current political environment.
Without mentioning the absent President Donald Trump by name, Obama said, “Each day we wake up to some new assault on our democratic institutions, another setback to the idea of the rule of law. An offense to common decency. Every day you wake up to it, to things you just didn’t think were possible,” Obama told the crowd.
“Each day, we’re told by those in high office to fear each other and to turn on each other — and that some Americans count more than others, and that some don’t even count at all. Everywhere we see greed and bigotry being celebrated, and bullying and mockery masquerading as strength; we see science and expertise denigrated while ignorance and dishonesty and cruelty and corruption are reaping untold rewards.”
Echoing his presidential campaign slogan, Obama declared, “Every single day we see that. And it’s hard to hope in those moments,” before discussing how Jackson’s voice “calls on each of us to be heralds of change, to be messengers of hope.”
Clinton mainly steered clear of Trump and current politics, telling a series of anecdotes about Jackson’s relationship over the years with him, his wife and their daughter, Chelsea.
Biden briefly touched on the Trump presidency.
“We’re in a tough spot, folks,” Biden said. “We got an administration that doesn’t share any of the values that we have, and I don’t think I’m exaggerating a little bit.” Biden then discussed Jackson as someone who “knew who we were at our best, that he simply refused to let us off the hook as a party, as a nation, or as individuals.”
These remarks resonated with many in the audience on Friday and with many who see Jackson’s legacy as speaking truth to power as a minister, activist and Democratic presidential candidate. For Jackson’s son, however, the remarks made by the former heads of state injected too much politics into an event he desired to remain non-partisan.
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