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I did not know Rev. Jesse Jackson personally, but I will never forget meeting him shortly after I won the Martin Luther King Jr. Community Service Award. I thought about my experience when it was reported this morning that Rev. Jackson, while surrounded by his family, died peacefully at home last night. I felt a wave of peace as I watched and listened to the reports this morning because it's not often we hear of a Civil Rights icon dying peacefully in their sleep. In fact, the vast majority of Civil Rights leaders we identify as trailblazers who lit the path we now travel and made possible the freedoms we now enjoy died horrible deaths:

  • Martin Luther King Jr (1968) was assassinated by a sniper.
  • Medger Evers (1963) was shot in the back in his own driveway while walking towards his home. 
  • Malcolm X (1965) was assassinated while addressing his organization in New York City.
  • Jimmie Lee Jackson (1965) was shot by an Alabama state trooper while protecting his mother and grandfather during a protest, an event that helped trigger the Selma to Montgomery marches. 
  • Vernon Jordan (1980, died 2021) survived a 1980 assassination attempt by a white supremacist, who shot him with a hunting rifle. 

The above list can go on and on. I found it refreshing to hear that a man who risked so much was allowed by God to peacefully transition from earth to glory.  Today, let's remember and say a prayer for those who sacrificially put themselves in harms for the benefit of future generations. And while you pray for them, remember these words:

"A democracy cannot thrive where power remains unchecked and justice is reserved for a select few. Ignoring these cries and failing to respond to this movement is simply not an option - for peace cannot exist where justice is not served." 

John Lewis