Chicago faith and community leaders hold a vigil and prayer for Rev. Jesse Jackson

Описание: (18 Feb 2026)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:

++THUMBNAIL++
Pastor Cy Fields, left, and David Cherry pray for Rev. Jesse Jackson during a vigil at Greater St. John Church in Chicago, Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2026. (AP Photo by Nam Y. Huh; ID:26049014202754)

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Chicago - 17 February 2026
1. Wide of pastor Cy M. Fields praying along with community leaders
2. SOUNDBITE (English) Cy M. Fields, Pastor, New Landmark Missionary Baptist Church:
"We had one among us who was our big brother, who showed us how to stand tall, even in the struggle. So we're so grateful for him. And rest assured, as it already been said, his legacy of fighting for civil rights, human rights, equality and fighting for everybody, it will continue on. It will continue on. It will continue on."
3. Pan of prayer
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Rev. Marshall Hatch, Senior Pastor of New Mount Pilgrim Church:
"What would Rev. Jackson do? We know what he would do. He would talk about the 250th year of this experiment with democracy is hanging in the balance. And he'd remind us that we have work to do. That this is a critical year in the history of this country."
++WHITE FLASH++
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Rev. Marshall Hatch, Senior Pastor of New Mount Pilgrim Church:
"And he wouldn't mind at all us using the energy to transform our grief and our pain into power and to purpose and to spearhead this year, this election year, massive voter registration, massive voter participation."
6. Wide of prayer
STORYLINE:
Many people who knew and worked with the Rev. Jesse L. Jackson Sr. are vowing to ‘keep hope alive’ in honor of his legacy.

In Chicago faith and community leaders gathered Tuesday evening for a prayer and vigil honoring his life.

"We had one among us who was our big brother, who showed us how to stand tall, even in the struggle," said Pastor Cy M. Fields of New Landmark Missionary Baptist Church. "His legacy of fighting for civil rights, Human rights, equality and fighting for everybody, it will continue on. It will continue on. It will continue on."

Jackson, who led the U.S. Civil Rights Movement for decades, died Tuesday. The protege of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and two-time presidential candidate was 84.

Jackson led a lifetime of crusades in the United States and abroad, advocating for the poor and underrepresented on issues from voting rights and job opportunities to education and health care. He scored diplomatic victories with world leaders, and through his Rainbow/PUSH Coalition, he channeled cries for Black pride and self-determination into corporate boardrooms, pressuring executives to make America a more open and equitable society.

And when he declared, “I am Somebody,” in a poem he often repeated, he sought to reach people of all colors. “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,” intoned America’s best-known civil rights activist since King.

Rev. Marshall Hatch, Senior Pastor of New Mount Pilgrim Church in West Garfield Park, said Rev. Jackson would want on this day to "remind us that we have work to do. That this is a critical year in the history of this country."

"And he wouldn't mind at all us using the energy to transform our grief and our pain into power and to purpose and to spearhead this year, this election year, massive voter registration, massive voter participation," said Hatch.

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