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Jackson, 81, has been a leader of the U.S. civil rights movement
since the 1960s. He fought for the rights of Black Americans and
other minorities alongside his mentor, Martin Luther King, Jr.,
and was present when King was assassinated in Memphis,
Tennessee, in 1968.
In a weekly broadcast on Saturday, Jackson said he would "make a
transition pretty soon," reminding viewers that he had been
active in the movement for 64 years, and said the new president
would speak at the coalition's annual convention this weekend.
The announcement of Jackson's retirement from his leadership
role follows several health afflictions in recent years.
Jackson announced in 2017 that he had Parkinson's disease, an
ailment that constrains movement and gets progressively worse
with time. In 2021, he was hospitalized after testing positive
for COVID-19, and again after falling and hitting his head.
The Rainbow PUSH Coalition is a merger between "People United to
Save Humanity," a group Jackson founded in 1971 to continue
King's work, and a coalition he formed after his first
unsuccessful run for the Democratic presidential nomination in
1984.
Jackson ran again in 1988, winning several primaries and
garnering momentum from Black voters and white liberals, but
ultimately failed to become the first Black presidential nominee
from a major party.
(Reporting by Julia Harte; Editing by Edmund Klamann)
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