Chicago – March 06, 2026
Former U.S. President Barack Obama warned that American democracy is under sustained attack as he honored civil rights leader Reverend Jesse Jackson at a packed memorial service in Chicago on Friday.
Speaking at the 10,000-seat House of Hope church, Obama said that “each day we wake up to some new assault on our democratic institutions” and urged Americans to “step forward” and defend the rule of law and common decency, invoking Jackson’s lifelong example of activism and hope.
Obama was joined by fellow former presidents Joe Biden and Bill Clinton, as well as former first ladies Jill Biden and Hillary Clinton, who gathered with thousands of mourners to celebrate Jackson’s decades of work for voting rights, desegregation and economic justice.
The memorial, filled with gospel music and tributes from political and religious leaders, cast Jackson’s legacy as a blueprint for confronting today’s political polarization and erosion of democratic norms.
