“‘Keep Hope Alive’ Reaches Kenya: Remembering Rev. Jesse Jackson’s Lifelong Fight for Justice and His Historic Ties to Africa”
Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, the towering civil rights leader, Baptist minister, and protégé of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., has died at the age of 84, leaving a powerful legacy that deeply touched Kenya and the African diaspora.
His visit and ties to Kenya
Rev. Jackson visited Kenya in the late 1990s as the U.S. presidential envoy for Africa, urging free, fair, and peaceful multiparty elections and greater democratic space.
During meetings with President Daniel arap Moi and Kenyan leaders, he called for “open, free, fair and non‑violent elections” and linked investment, jobs, and social progress to genuine democracy.
He also visited areas affected by ethnic violence in the Rift Valley, expressing shock at the suffering and calling on Kenyan authorities to end the bloodshed.
For the Kenyan and wider African diaspora, his Nairobi visits symbolized international solidarity with movements for multiparty democracy, human rights, and economic justice.
Life, ministry, and global vision
Born in Greenville, South Carolina, in 1941, Jesse Louis Jackson rose from the segregated American South to become one of the most recognizable moral voices for justice in the world.
He worked closely with Dr. King in the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) and was present in Memphis on the day Dr. King was assassinated, later emerging as a key leader in the next generation of the movement.
In 1971 he founded Operation PUSH (People United to Save Humanity) in Chicago, followed by the Rainbow Coalition, which later became the Rainbow PUSH Coalition, uniting the poor, workers, small farmers, and marginalized communities across race and class.
His life goals were rooted in a vision of justice: expanding voting rights, fighting poverty and racism, defending workers, and lifting the voices of the oppressed not only in the United States but around the world, including Africa, Latin America, and the Middle East.
He twice ran for president of the United States, in 1984 and 1988, winning millions of votes and proving that a Black candidate could be a serious national contender, opening doors for future generations.
Movements and causes he led
Rev. Jackson helped carry forward the U.S. civil rights movement from the streets of the American South to the global stage, championing voting rights, desegregation, and economic justice campaigns in cities across the United States.
Through Operation PUSH and the Rainbow PUSH Coalition, he organized campaigns for corporate accountability, minority hiring, fair lending, and educational opportunity, bringing church, labor, and community groups into a single “rainbow” of peoples.
He also engaged in high‑stakes diplomacy, helping secure the release of prisoners and hostages in Syria, Cuba, and Iraq, and advocating for peace and human rights in Africa, including his work as a U.S. envoy on the continent.
For African and Kenyan audiences, his work resonates with struggles for multiparty democracy, land rights, youth opportunity, and the fight against corruption and ethnic violence.
Famous quotes and message of hope
Rev. Jackson was known worldwide for his prophetic oratory and unforgettable phrases that inspired movements for freedom:
Keep hope alive.”
“At the end of the day, we must go forward with hope and not backward by fear and division.”
If my mind can conceive it, if my heart can believe it, I know I can achieve it.”
“Your children need your presence more than your presents.”
On his role as an agitator for justice, he once said, “I’m a tree shaker, not a jam maker.”
These words continue to challenge leaders and citizens alike to build societies grounded in dignity, democracy, and shared prosperity.
As the Kenyan and African diaspora mourns his passing, we also celebrate a servant leader whose voice crossed oceans, from Chicago to Nairobi, calling people to organize, vote, and believe that change is possible.
In remembering Rev. Jesse L. Jackson’s visit to Kenya, his lifelong fight for justice, and the movements he helped build, we are reminded that the work of freedom is not finished—and that the greatest way to honor him is to “go forward with hope and not backward by fear and division.”
