MARYLAND– Gov. Wes Moore (D) expressed condolences after the news that Civil Rights activist and former presidential candidate the Rev. Jesse Jackson has died.
Moore is Maryland's first Black governor and currently the only Black governor in the U.S.
"Of the many shoulders that we stand on, Jesse Jackson’s were amongst the broadest," Gov. Moore said. "Reverend Jackson was a trailblazer who never waited for permission or to ask for a seat at the table—he insisted on it, and he widened that table for generations to come."
Jackson led the Civil Rights Movement alongside Martin Luther King Jr., fought for inclusion by founding the Rainbow PUSH Coalition and encouraged over 1 million voters to register during his 1984 presidential campaign, according to the Coalition.
Jackson's family says he passed peacefully the morning of Feb. 17 after a nearly nine-year battle with Parkinson's Disease.
"Reverend Jackson spent his life turning pain into purpose and protest into progress and organizing communities to make those promises real," Moore said.