CHICAGO (WLS) — As Chicago and the country say goodbye to Reverend Jesse Jackson and celebrate his legacy, ABC7 is talking a look at the work being done to protect civil rights and ensure social justice.
Who are the people, the organizations leading the charge?
Father Dr. Charlie Dates, senior pastor of both Progressive Baptist and Salem Baptist churches, said he met Rev. Jackson when he was a teenager.
Dates explained that he was invited to introduce the civil rights icon during a Rainbow PUSH celebration for another civil rights icon, Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Work being done in Chicago to protect civil rights and ensure social justice.
“From that moment forward, he gave many of us an opportunity, in our younger years, to speak to august crowds. I think later in my pastorate, he became an influential voice to push the sermons and the work of the church beyond the four walls,” Dates said. “He had no tolerance, as it were, for us just keeping our work small. He felt like the gospel mandate was big.”
Dates said there are people and leaders all ready at work “to carry the mantle.”
“I think the moment we’re in is going to define who actually steps up. And yeah, I hope to be one,” he said. “But I also think that we may have a cadre, a team, like the Avengers, a multiplicity of leaders who step up with the same agenda to make things happen.”
As Chicago says goodbye to Rev.Jackson, we’re talking about the work being done here in the city to protect civil rights and ensure social justice.
Ashley Munson is a civic engagement strategist and political commentator.
“I think when you look at the next generation of leaders and what’s to come next, I think it’s a coalition of people,” Munson said. “I think there will be a group of people that will lead the way. I know we went from King, to Reverend Jesse and now it’s on us to pick up the torch, to do the work and work together to make sure the next generation, and still this generation, does the work and has the freedom to do what they need to do.”
Jaylin McClinton, is the civic engagement co-chair for the Metro Board of the Chicago Urban League.
He calls this moment a “punch in the gut in a lot of ways.”
“All of us have a responsibility to get to that beloved community that Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King talked about and that Reverend Jesse Jackson talked about as well,” McClinton said.
He explained that the Metro Board is working every day to promote Black Chicago.
Munson says she works to break down politics “and make it make sense for folks so that people can be civically engaged. Once young people understand the connection from policy to their livelihood, I think they can be not just be participants, but they can be leading the way in what we’re trying to do in the city.”
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