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Omaha Steve

(108,960 posts)
Fri Mar 6, 2026, 09:45 AM 17 hrs ago

Celebration of life for Jesse Jackson to draw former presidents and Grammy-winning artists

Source: AP

By SOPHIA TAREEN
Updated 8:24 AM CST, March 6, 2026

CHICAGO (AP) — Three former U.S. presidents, Grammy-winning artists, clergy and elected officials are expected to attend a Chicago celebration of life on Friday for the late Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr.

The event honoring the protege of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and two-time presidential candidate follows memorial services that drew large crowds in Chicago and South Carolina, where the civil rights leader was born.

The Chicago celebration — at an influential Black church with a 10,000-seat arena — is anticipated to be the largest. Former Democratic U.S. Presidents Barack Obama, Joe Biden and Bill Clinton, along with former Vice President Kamala Harris, are listed as speakers on the program, according to the Rainbow PUSH Coalition, the organization that Jackson founded. The musical lineup includes gospel singer BeBe Winans.

“These homegoing services are welcome to all. Democrat, Republican, liberal, conservative, right wing, left wing because his life is broad enough to cover the full spectrum of what it means to be an American,” the civil rights leader’s son Jesse Jackson Jr. said last month. “Dad would have wanted us to have a great meeting to discuss our differences, to find ways of moving forward and moving together.”



Read more: https://apnews.com/article/jesse-jackson-chicago-memorial-civil-rights-263587cbc73df9ff9e30857aba60d492

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Celebration of life for Jesse Jackson to draw former presidents and Grammy-winning artists (Original Post) Omaha Steve 17 hrs ago OP
No dubya? Disrespectful pos! SheltieLover 17 hrs ago #1
A Great American who deserves to be honored. Martin68 15 hrs ago #2
Must be noon Chicago time.. not on any of my 3 PBS Deuxcents 14 hrs ago #3
Sounds great! electric_blue68 14 hrs ago #4
It's absolutely wild that former presidents are there but the current one isn't. Initech 11 hrs ago #5
I'm sure the family would rather the orange abomination stay away SheltieLover 10 hrs ago #7
True, he would make it all about himself if he were invited. Initech 6 hrs ago #9
Yup SheltieLover 6 hrs ago #10
Biden is speaking now LibinMo 11 hrs ago #6
C Span 2 is showing it tonight at 7 LibinMo 8 hrs ago #8

Initech

(108,466 posts)
5. It's absolutely wild that former presidents are there but the current one isn't.
Fri Mar 6, 2026, 03:13 PM
11 hrs ago

Because our current president is such a sadistic and vindictive psycho that he isn't allowed anywhere in actual society other than his shitty news channels.

LibinMo

(567 posts)
6. Biden is speaking now
Fri Mar 6, 2026, 03:22 PM
11 hrs ago

I didn’t tune in until the middle of Obama’s speech. It was wonderful & so uplifting to hear instead of the TV garbage masquerading as news that we’ve been subjected to since Trump. I’m hoping that one of the networks will run the complete celebration tonight

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