To understand why Jackson reacted so viscerally to Obama, one must first understand who he was. Long before Obama’s rise, Jesse Jackson was the closest thing America had to a national Black political candidate. Born in segregated South Carolina, he came of age in the crucible of the civil rights movement. As a young organiser, he worked alongside Martin Luther King Jr., participated in marches across the South, and became known for his fiery oratory and instinct for political mobilisation.
