From Rev. Jackson Funeral To The Edmund Pettus Bridge

By Lawrence Hamm, Chairman, People’s Organization For Progress

Photos: Lawrence Hamm

Above Photo: Rev Jesse Jackson and Larry Hamm, at 2016 Democratic Convention, in Philadelphia.

Recently, representing the People’s Organization For Progress I attended the funeral of civil rights leader Rev Jesse Jackson, and participated in a march over the Edmund Pettus Bridge for voting rights. Both events took place during the same weekend.

Rev Jackson was an historical figure. Attending his funeral was an important way of recognizing and honoring his contributions to the Black liberation movement and the struggle for civil and human rights. 

I met Rev Jackson 55 years ago at a Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) convention in New Orleans, Louisiana. I was there to get a youth leadership award which I received from Corretta Scott-King. I also spoke at one of Rev Jackson’s Operation Breadbasket rallies in Detroit, Michigan that same year.

Together with other grassroots activists we formed New Jersey Citizens for Jesse Jackson to support his 1984 presidential campaign. I was state co-chair of his 1988 presidential campaign in New Jersey. In 1987, we founded the New Jersey chapter of his National Rainbow Coalition.

On Saturday March 7th, I flew from Newark, New Jersey to Chicago, Illinois and attended what was called Rev Jackson’s private homegoing services which were held at his Rainbow PUSH headquarters.

The auditorium and the overflow area was packed. The service was powerful and emotional. There were outstanding performances by male and female vocalists and the choir that was present.

There were many speakers who were there to praise Rev Jackson, but they recognized his wife Jacqueline Jackson again and again. She received standing ovations throughout the program.

The speakers not only came from across the country they came from across the world. There were several dignitaries from Africa including South African President Cyril Ramaphosa. He chronicled Rev Jackson’s involvement in the anti-apartheid struggle to liberate his country. He said that Rev Jackson also belonged to the people of South Africa.

His son Congressman Jonathan Jackson gave a fiery speech very much in the style of his father that brought the audience to its feet. His son Jesse Jackson Jr made a very emotional presentation that brought many to tears. His daughter honored her father by singing spirituals with the choir that caused the whole building to rock.

Then Stevie Wonder came to the stage and performed. He sang one of his most popular songs “Always.” The audience was ecstatic rising to its feet singing along and clapping throughout the song.

He also performed his own version of “We Shall Overcome.” He said to people “you should overcome white supremacy,” and other forms of prejudice and bias in our country.

It was quite a coincidence that the day of the homegoing service was also the anniversary of Bloody Sunday, when more than sixty years ago voting rights marchers were attacked and beaten by police on the Edmund Pettus Bridge.

At the conclusion of the services I went to the airport to get a flight from Chicago to Montgomery, Alabama so I could attend the annual Bloody Sunday commemoration being held the next day.

On Sunday, March 8th, I took a cab from Montgomery to Selma. There I joined many people for the opening rally and then we marched across the Edmund Pettus Bridge to commemorate the “Bloody Sunday” attack on voting rights protestors.

I walked across the bridge with a “Protect Our Vote Sign” that had a picture John Lewis on it in one hand, and in the other I had the program from the funeral with Rev Jackson’s picture on it that was distributed to those attending the service the previous day.

Jackson together with Martin Luther King, John Lewis and many others fought for voting rights, and he was involved with the Selma to Montgomery march. The commemorative march was a powerful event. Several thousand people participated. I was honored to be among them.

On March 7, 1965 Alabama state troopers and sheriff’s deputies attacked 600 marchers protesting for voting rights and against the murder of Jimmie Lee Jackson by police.

The protestors were on a 50 mile march to Montgomery, the state capitol, as they attempted to cross the Edmund Pettus Bridge. They attempted to cross the bridge on three different occasions and were successful the third time.

The Selma march drew national attention and led to the passage of the Voting Rights Act which was signed into law by President Lyndon B Johnson on August 6, 1965.

Annual commemorations of Bloody Sunday have been held for 61 years. Speakers at the rally said that Rev Jackson attended every one of those commemorations. This was the first one he was not able to attend.

Other people from my home state of New Jersey were at the march including Ryan Haygood, Executive Director of the New Jersey Institute for Social justice, who brought an entire contingent including his staff. Jamie Bland, Northeast Region National Action Network representative was there and brought a delegation of people from New Jersey.

What Dr King, Jesse Jackson, John Lewis, the marchers who were attacked on the Edmund Pettus Bridge, and all those who were a part of the Civil Rights Movement accomplished was unprecedented. They brought down the legal infrastructure supporting racial apartheid in the U.S. and enabled millions of Black people to exercise the right to vote.

However, the ink was hardly dry for these accomplishments when the racist forces that had opposed them began their sixty year long effort to erase these hard won victories. Today, the Trump administration, the MAGA Republican controlled Congress, and the ultra right -wing super majority on the Supreme Court are attempting to erase the last vestiges of those voting rights victories.

Let us honor the memory of our voting rights freedom fighters by redoubling our efforts to make sure that what they fought for, sacrificed for, and died for is not erased and will be preserved for generations to come.