The Reverend Jesse Jackson has died. He was 84.
Unfortunately, I do not have any great opinions or thoughts on the man, which may be a fault of my age. He ran for president in 1988, when I was in high school, and he kinda faded away after that. Or, rather, faded from my perception. I hate to admit this, but if you’d asked me last week I’d have told you I thought he’d already died, maybe four, five years back. I’d have thought that, probably because he was announced as having Parkinson’s about that time.
My mom voted for him. To the end of her days, she would tell people she proudly voted for Jackson in the 1988 West Virginia Democratic primary. It was truly a badge of honor with her. There weren’t many votes that she discussed — Reagan instead of John Anderson in 1980 was the other one she would talk about — and that primary vote for Jackson was the Big One.
I would have known him for this on Sesame Street, though I have no memory of it.
I’m going to download some podcasts — I just grabbed this one — and find out more about a political figure I should have known more about.