Remembering Rev. Jesse Jackson and his achievements on what would have been his 85th birthday

Thursday would have been the Rev. Jesse Jackson's 85th birthday.

Jackson died Feb. 17. His legacy as a civil rights leader and presidential candidate stretches around the globe, and starting Thursday, a huge push has been launched online to ensure that spirit stays alive.

Yusef Jackson, the late reverend's son and the president of the Rainbow PUSH Coalition, said there are many ways in which Jackson and his service have left a strong imprint on many people.

"I think people, when they think about Reverend Jackson, they think about his availability, his ubiquitousness in their lives," Yusef Jackson said. "You also think about his level of service — he was always willing to put his body on the line to work with people. He was unique in that he worked with individuals as well as big organizations. He worked with people like the pope, as well as people in Englewood. So you found Reverend Jackson everywhere."

Yusef Jackson said his father was able to relate to people on all levels.

"When you go to restaurants — he might go to a fancy restaurant, but he's always with the people in the kitchen. When he was in the hotel, he was with the people who made the rooms up," said Yusef Jackson. "Why? Because he came from humble beginnings. His mother was a hairdresser. His grandmother was a maid. So he really related to common people in that sense."

The Rev. Jackson's efforts at securing voting rights were ultimately about securing economic power, Yusef Jackson said.

"He believed through voting power, you get political power, and from political power, you help control where the goods and services are distributed. From there, you have economic power," he said. "His work really on the Dr. [Martin Luther] King [Jr.] side was on the economic side."

Yusef Jackson said just as was the case when his father was at the helm of Rainbow PUSH, change depends on people coming together and forming a coalition.

"The issues we face at Rainbow PUSH and around this country are evergreen, and that is developing a way to encourage people to find the common ground they have with each other — a coalition of African Americans, Hispanics, women, working-class people, those who are disenfranchised, those who are voiceless in many ways," he said. "It's not about economic level. It's about how much your voice is able to be heard."

Asked if such a task is more difficult now, Yusef Jackson said he was not sure it is more difficult than it has been in the past.

"You know, we have a different challenge. You know, the Civil Rights-era legacy in 1964, 1968, they had their own challenges. We've had 61 years of amazing progress. You know, without that legislation, the Olympics would never have come to Atlanta. The World Cup wouldn't have come to the United States. The South is a completely different economy than it was in 1965. So that legislation worked," said Yusef Jackson. "Now it's been undermined, it's been neutered, it's been cut — and that's a bad thing. But now we rebuild."

Yusef Jackson said his father would be proud that people are more engaged than ever before.

"We're not hopeless," he said. "We are doing what he asked us to do, which is to engage and to keep hope alive."

Anyone who wishes to share a memory of Rev. Jackson can do so using a Vercel form that Rainbow PUSH set up. The memory could be a photograph, a vide, an audio recording, a letter, a program, a piece of memorabilia, a file on a phone, or just the memory itself typed out.

Rainbow PUSH also encourages people to share memories of Rev. Jackson on Facebook, X and other social media using the hashtag #MyRevJacksonMoment.