2026年2月22日 / 美国东部时间上午9:38 / 哥伦比亚广播公司新闻
1988年，杰西·杰克逊牧师以一场震撼人心的演讲结束了他的总统竞选征程，那句名言将永载史册：“我们绝不能屈服。美国会越来越好。让希望永存！让希望永存！让希望永存！”
在那个美国民众对大政府日益失望的十年里，杰克逊以支持经济发展和基于信仰的慈悲理念为核心，为所有背景的工人阶级和贫困人口发声。他将这一理念命名为“彩虹联盟”。
尽管杰克逊当年未能获得民主党提名，且在1984年的早期竞选中也同样失利，但他的两次竞选活动却极大地推动了新选民的登记注册，总共获得了超过1000万张初选选票。
档案资料：杰西·杰克逊的政治运动（哥伦比亚广播公司《周日早间》节目视频，YouTube平台）
这些当时创下纪录的票数，为20年后巴拉克·奥巴马的当选铺平了道路。杰克逊含泪观看了奥巴马的胜选演讲。
自那以后，从伯尼·桑德斯到唐纳德·特朗普，杰克逊的草根运动策略被无数政治“异见者”所借鉴。
1941年，杰西·杰克逊出生于南卡罗来纳州格林维尔市一位未婚少女母亲的怀抱。他凭借着惊人的毅力和运动天赋，早早崭露头角。
投身民权运动后，他成为小马丁·路德·金博士最年轻的助手之一，并在金遇刺的那一周始终陪伴在他身边（1968年4月3日，田纳西州孟菲斯市洛兰汽车旅馆的阳台上，杰西·杰克逊、霍西·威廉姆斯牧师、小马丁·路德·金牧师和拉尔夫·埃伯纳西站在一起，金牧师次日遇刺身亡。图片来源：查尔斯·凯利/美联社）
从芝加哥的基地出发，杰克逊将金的民权运动延伸至商界，组织消费者抵制活动，并推动更多黑人进入公司董事会。
他同样在国际舞台上留下了足迹，多次执行任务，从外国战区解救被俘的美国人。
然而，杰西·杰克逊也因个人过失而备受争议，这些过错让他多次公开寻求宽恕。有人质疑他夸大了自己“抱着金博士头部”的故事，他还被曝光使用针对犹太人的粗俗侮辱性语言，并且有婚外情，导致非婚生子女的出生。
到2024年民主党全国代表大会上，当杰克逊获邀出席时，他曾经洪亮的声音已因一种无法治愈的神经系统疾病而沉寂。
（杰西·杰克逊牧师在《芝麻街》节目中。图片来源：儿童电视工作室）
但在社交媒体时代，那些彰显他“美国本色”的瞬间仍被广泛传播，例如他登上《芝麻街》节目，向孩子们传授他最喜爱的诗歌《我是重要的人》：
我是重要的人！
我是重要的人！
我可能贫穷，
但我是重要的人。
我可能年轻，
但我是重要的人。
我可能领救济，
但我是重要的人。
我可能渺小，
但我是重要的人。
我可能犯过错误，
但我是重要的人。
我的衣服不同，
我的面容不同，
我的头发不同，
但我是重要的人。
我是黑人，
棕色皮肤，
白色皮肤。
我讲着不同的语言，
但我必须受到尊重，
受到保护，
永不被排斥。
我是上帝的孩子！
我是重要的人！
本报道由丽莎·莫纳塞比安制作。编辑：埃马努埃莱·塞奇。
https://youtu.be/cA6sPJcaEUs
Remembering The Rev. Jesse Jackson, an American original
February 22, 2026 / 9:38 AM EST / CBS News
In 1988, the Reverend Jesse Jackson ended his outsider campaign for president with a stirring speech for the history books: “We must never surrender. America will get better and better. Keep hope alive! Keep hope alive! Keep hope alive!”
In a decade when America was turning against big government, Jackson ran on a message of economic support and faith-based compassion for the working class and poor of all backgrounds. He called it his “Rainbow Coalition.”
Although Jackson fell short of the Democratic nomination that year, and in an earlier race in 1984, his two campaigns produced a surge of new voter registration, and received more than 10 million primary votes.
From the archives: Jesse Jackson’s political movement by CBS Sunday Morning on YouTube
Those then-record numbers for a Black candidate paved the way for the election 20 years later of Barack Obama, whose victory speech Jackson watched in tears.
And since then, Jackson’s grassroots playbook has been adapted by political insurgents from Bernie Sanders to Donald Trump.
Born in 1941 to an unwed teenage mother in Greenville, South Carolina, Jackson turned heads early with his fierce drive and athletic ability.
Diving into civil rights work, he became one of the youngest aides to Martin Luther King Jr., and he was by King’s side in Memphis the week he was assassinated.
Hosea Williams, The Rev. Jesse Jackson, The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., and Ralph Abernathy stand on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tenn., on April 3, 1968, King was assassinated the next day. Charles Kelly/AP
From his base in Chicago, Jackson extended King’s movement to the business world, organizing consumer boycotts and pushing for more Blacks on corporate boards.
He became a player on the world stage, too, with missions to free Americans taken prisoner in foreign war zones.
But Jackson will also be remembered for private failings that left him repeatedly seeking public forgiveness. He was suspected of exaggerating a story about cradling Dr. King’s head in his hands. He was caught using a crude slur for Jews, and carrying on an extramarital affair that produced an out-of-wedlock child.
By the time Jackson was honored at the 2024 Democratic Convention, his once-thundering voice was silenced by an incurable neurological disorder.
The Rev. Jesse Jackson on “Sesame Street.” Children’s Television Workshop
But in the age of social media, reminders live on of what made Jesse Jackson such an American original – like the time he went on “Sesame Street” to teach the kids his favorite poem, “I am Somebody”:
_I am Somebody!
I am Somebody!
I may be poor,
But I am Somebody.
I may be young,
But I am Somebody.
I may be on welfare,
But I am Somebody.
I may be small,
But I am Somebody.
I may have made mistakes,
But I am Somebody.
My clothes are different,
My face is different,
My hair is different,
But I am Somebody.
I am Black,
Brown,
White.
I speak a different language
But I must be respected,
Protected,
Never rejected.
I am God’s child!
I am Somebody!_
Story produced by Liza Monasebian. Editor: Emanuele Secci.
https://youtu.be/cA6sPJcaEUs
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