DETROIT – The Reverend Jesse Jackson had strong ties to Detroit.
“To come to Detroit, it was almost like coming home,” said John Graves, Jackson’s longtime friend.
When Jackson came to Detroit, Graves was his right-hand man, taking him where he needed to go.
“He had great jokes. He had phrases some I can repeat, some I can’t. He had phrases that would make you laugh, but it would make you think,” Graves said.
Graves first met Jackson as a 15-year-old in Selma, Alabama, in 1965.
While Martin Luther King Jr. appeared refined in a suit and black socks, Jackson, he recalled, wore jeans and sported an Afro.
“So, I just gravitated to him, to see someone that young being at the table,” Graves said.
Decades later, they reconnected and began working together.
Graves now serves as chairman of the Citizenship Education Fund, part of the Rainbow PUSH Coalition, which Jackson founded.
Working closely with Jackson only deepened his respect for him.
“Rev. Jackson was one of a kind, obviously, and he was so humble, probably, if he had his way, he would have died as a martyr, because he felt that longevity, that you would see his imperfections,” Graves said.
He last saw Jackson in the hospital last December.
Graves said Jackson was in good spirits despite his condition.
“He and Jeremiah Wright were singing the Omega song, and he was flirting with his staff, and just having a great time,” he said.
Even as Jackson’s time neared, the passion that guided his life still burned bright.
“We knew the story medically, but it’s Rev. Jackson. He’s different, and we felt he would always come back and defy the odds,” Graves said.
Jackson passed away on Feb. 17 at the age of 84.
The Jackson family is making funeral arrangements, and Graves plans to head to Chicago to be with them.