Reflecting on the life of the Rev. Jesse Jackson, San Diego’s Black elected officials and activists recall a charismatic speaker who could energize a crowd with hope and activate Black voters across the region and the nation. The longtime civil rights giant and two-time presidential candidate, who died Tuesday at 84, inspired the work they do today, they say. “He was a major force for me, seeing what we could do in communities,” California Secretary of State Shirley Weber said Tuesday. Weber met Jackson when she was a senior at UCLA during Operation Breadbasket, an effort he led in the 1960s to support Black workers and Black-owned businesses. “He served a good task, and he was always an exciting person, filled with energy,” she added. Jackson visited San Diego a number of times, whether campaigning for president, marching with activists or speaking to students or rallies. In a 1984 push for immigrants’ rights, he led a march to the U.S.-Mexico border and an international rally in opposition to a crackdown on the hiring of undocumented immigrants. He spoke at San Diego State in 1996 at a rally against Proposition 209’s ban on affirmative action. Vernon Sukumu, now 86, ran Jackson’s 1984 presidential campaign in San Diego County. The San Diegan had two children to support, but he took time off work to join the campaign — the candidate’s charisma and gift for communication simply made people rally behind him, Sukumu said. “I never saw people walking out of there with their heads down,” he recalled of Jackson’s speeches. “He was full of life.” Sukumu worked on other political campaigns — but working for Jackson, he says, was different. Donations poured in daily. So many people volunteered to help that Sukumu had to find work for them to do. Jackson particularly energized Black voters in San Diego, said Greg Akili, 77, who used to live in San Diego and was more recently the national field coordinator for Black Lives Matter in Los Angeles. “They didn’t always see the need to participate in the levels that would make a difference. He changed that, and maintained it for a long time,” Akili said. Like Sukumu, Akili worked on Jackson’s 1984 San Diego campaign; he also joined the 1988 run. Both efforts helped pave the way for future Black leaders — from candidates for local office to Barack Obama in 2008. “He made it possible for others to win,” Akili said. Akili recalls that during one of Jackson’s 1984 visits to San Diego, the poet and musician Gil Scott-Heron was in town performing. Jackson went to his show and invited Scott-Heron to join him at a rally. They drove there together. Jackson was a serious person, said his friend and longtime San Diego activist Kathleen Harmon, 94, — but he was also joyful and liked to joke. Harmon ran Jackson’s 1988 presidential campaign in San Diego, and his dedication to underrepresented people through his Rainbow Coalition was an inspiration to her. “He brought us all together,” she said. “He was a great organizer.” He took an interest in the details of the lives of those around him, she added. Everyone loved to be around him. He had an eye to the next generation, too. Local activist Shane Harris met Jackson in 2016, when he was in his early 20s. Harris recalls him as a “gentle giant,” offering kindness and encouraging the young pastor to find his own voice. Jackson also reminded him the fight for progress is long and encouraged him to stay in it. “Having someone like that talk about how he stayed committed, despite all the challenges that he faced, I think is the biggest honor of my life — to be able to glean that from him,” Harris said. ...read more read less