New York leaders mourn Rev. Jesse Jackson as "a giant of the civil rights movement"

""Jesse Jackson changed American politics, and he changed New York politics," he said. "It had been a very sad day for me. Even though we knew he was very ill, when the moment comes, you are not prepared for it.""

""We were never raised to be 40 years old. I woke up one day at 55. There's no retirement plan for us," Jackson told him."

""Today we mourn the passing of Rev. Jesse Jackson, a giant of the civil rights movement who never stopped demanding that America live up to its promise. He marched, he ran, he organized and he preached justice without apology. May we honor him not just in words, bu"

Rev. Jesse Jackson died Tuesday morning, prompting reflections on his lifelong activism and political influence. Rev. Al Sharpton worked closely with Jackson, who appointed him as youth director of the Brooklyn branch of Operation Breadbasket when Sharpton was a teenager. Their mentor-mentee relationship shaped Sharpton’s civil rights work and political career. Jackson influenced civil rights, politics, and culture in South Carolina and New York and continued fighting for his beliefs until his death. Jackson told Sharpton that Dr. Martin Luther King and were assassinated when they were 39, so he never learned how to retire. Sharpton was notified around 2:30 a.m., prayed with Jackson’s family, and described Jackson as godfather to his two daughters.

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