Jesse Jackson's son blasts Obama and Biden for using father's funeral to make inappropriate bash at Trump
The son of late Reverend Jesse Jackson has criticised former US presidents after they made political comments at the memorial service of his father.
Best known for his American civil rights work, the late politician was also an LGBTQ rights activist and an ordained Baptist minister.
Jackson died at his Chicago home on 17 February this year, afed 84, with his family announcing his passing on social media.
A number of touching tributes came from several powerful political figures, many of whom attended his memorial service.
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But some of them took the opportunity to criticise current US President Donald Trump, a move which Jesse Jackson Jr. did not appreciate, taking to the microphone at a private memorial service on Saturday (7 March) to voice his grievances.
Some previous Democrat Presidents bashed Trump and his policies during Friday's public send-off, but Jackson's son stated the following day: “Yesterday, I listened for several hours to three United States presidents who do not know Jesse Jackson.”
Speaking at Rainbow Push Coalition headquarters in Chicago, he added: “He maintained a tense relationship with the political order, not because the presidents were white or black, but the demands of our message, the demands of speaking for the least of these – those who are disinherited, the damned, the dispossessed, the disrespected – demanded not Democratic or Republican solutions, but demanded a consistent, prophetic voice that at no point in time ever sold us out as people.”
He said that it 'speaks volumes' about who his father was.
Friday's service, which was held at Chicago's House of Hope, featured a speech from Barack Obama, who warned of the state of the US, describing every day as a 'new assault on our democratic institutions'.
The 44th US President claimed: “Each day, we’re told by those in high office to fear each other and to turn on each other, and that some Americans count more than others, and that some don’t even count at all.
“Everywhere we see greed and bigotry, being celebrated and bullying and mockery masquerading as strength. It’s hard to hope in those moments,” Obama stated.
Trump though, also turned an online tribute to the late Jackson, into a political message.
He claimed: "Jesse was a force of nature like few others before him. He had much to do with the Election, without acknowledgment or credit, of Barack Hussein Obama, a man who Jesse could not stand."
Biden also spoke at the memorial, claiming that the Trump administration simply doesn't share 'any of the valued that we have', before his Vice President, Kamala Harris, took to the mic.
She said that she 'predicted a lot about what's happening right now' when referring to Trump's actions in office so far.
“I’m not into saying I told you so, but we did see it coming,” she claimed, adding: “But what I did not predict is that we would not have Jesse Jackson with us right now to help us get through this.”
On the other hand, Bill Clinton, who has made headlines for being questioned on his relationship to Jeffrey Epstein in a closed-door deposition in front of the US House Oversight Committee, didn't mention politics in his eulogy.
He instead spoke of his friendship with Jackson.
President Trump was not in attendance at either memorial service.
Topics: Barack Obama, Donald Trump, Joe Biden
Joshua Nair