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Inside Politics
Soon: Clinton, Obama, Biden, Harris To Speak At Jackson Funeral. Aired 12:30-1p ET
Aired March 06, 2026 - 12:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[12:32:45]
DANA BASH, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back to Inside Politics. You're looking at live pictures of the funeral service for the Reverend Jesse Jackson. It is about to begin any moment.
Abby Phillip is there at the House of Hope Arena in Chicago. Abby?
ABBY PHILLIP, CNN ANCHOR, NEWSNIGHT WITH ABBY PHILLIP: That's right, Dana. The room is filling up. The dignitaries are entering. Three former presidents, governors, faith leaders, Congress people up and down the ballot. Generations of people who have been impacted by Reverend Jackson and his work over the years. The civil rights leader died last month at the age of 84.
CNN's Jeff Zeleny is still with me here. And Jeff, we were -- you and I, just talking about how we can see the impact, the legacy in this room with just the people who are showing up for this event.
JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: It is really extraordinary. I mean, just the time in which he lived, I mean, see -- until 84. Of course, things have changed, but walking through the church, one of the first people I saw was the lieutenant governor of Michigan, Garlin Gilchrist, who is now running for secretary of state. He is an office holder, he believes, because of the path that Jesse Jackson set, and on and on throughout the entire church.
So he really didn't change, obviously, the country, even not by being elected to an office. He was an office holder in his own right because of the path he carried. And the voter registration.
PHILLIP: Yes.
ZELENY: Think of what he did for voter registration through his own races, and really beyond. But I think hearing from the presidents, A, we almost never see three former living presidents gathered together. We will today, but they're not talking about themselves, they're talking about Reverend Jackson and their individual relationships with him.
PHILLIP: Yes. And we were also talking about Reverend Jackson's upbringing and where he came from. And this week, we saw that he was lying in state, in his home state of South Carolina. He was here in Chicago. At some point, the family expected he'll go to Washington, D.C.
These are all places that are part of his biography, and shows that the geographic reach from the South to the North to the nation's capital. We are also, Jeff, as we're talking here, watching as the former presidents are now starting to enter the hall.
[12:35:03]
Remember, we're going to be hearing from President Clinton. You see President Obama there, followed by President Clinton as they're walking in. Former Secretary of State and First Lady Hillary Clinton is just behind them. And you can also see in the room, the crowd is going absolutely wild as they are being introduced. These are people who are revered by the folks who are gathered here.
I just saw former mayor of Chicago, Lori Lightfoot, in the midst of the crowd there, Jeff.
ZELENY: Right.
PHILLIP: So this is very few moments like this, very few homegoing services like this. Aretha Franklin comes to mind, Whitney Houston comes to mind. These sort of big moments, big cultural figures, big political figures. That's when you see things like this happening.
ZELENY: Without a doubt. I mean, presidents and former presidents go to state funerals. That's effectively what this is for the party, for the civil rights movement, really a bridge from Dr. King in 1968, of course, assassinated and Barack Obama elected in 2008. And the very important person in the middle is Jesse Jackson. So we can see former President Biden, former First Lady Jill Biden right there in the front seat as well.
PHILLIP: These are all individuals that Reverend Jackson worked closely with, he communicated regularly with over the course of decades. And those decades of work, Jeff, 60 years in public life, what I was earlier going to talk about was just the scope of this, I think is hard for people to understand.
Jesse Jackson was in his early 20s when he first got involved in civil rights, when he first started working with Dr. King. And from that moment on, he was about 26 years old when he saw Dr. King be assassinated on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel. He has been an indelible figure in American public life. Very few people can say something like that.
ZELENY: He truly stands alone as the most towering figure, not just of his era, an era that spanned so many decades and just chapters of American life. I mean, look right there on our screen. We have former President Barack Obama and of course, former President Joe Biden.
Well, President Obama, of course, was the first African American president. But Vice President Harris is also in the crowd somewhere here. And the legacy of her being the first African American vice president all set forth because -- and as we can see the picture right below us there, that is from that day in Memphis. Of course, that is the day before, actually.
PHILLIP: Yes.
ZELENY: The moment that really, I think, set Jesse Jackson on a course for charting his own way --
PHILLIP: Yes.
ZELENY: -- sometimes controversially. But he came here to Chicago to really build an international presence.
PHILLIP: And he effectively took up the civil rights movement from Dr. King after that fateful day in 1968. And what he built began here in Chicago. And one of the things, if you look at the program for today, you see not just political leaders, not just faith leaders, not just civil rights leaders, but business leaders.
One of the things that he did so well here in Chicago was change the landscape of business in Chicago, making it more diverse, developing relationships with the business community, the black business community and the white business community to create more opportunities for black Americans right here in this city who were essentially living in an economic segregation, essentially, from the rest of the city until he started to take some of that on.
It's a powerful part of his legacy that people don't talk about much. But you see the business leaders on this list. That's the reason that they're there.
ZELENY: There's no doubt about it. I mean, Operation Breadbasket, of course, was his first movement here. But he was president boardrooms and diversifying companies, but also not just in Chicago, across the country as well in New York as well. So I think he has so many legacies.
Politics, of course, is just one of them. And how we change business, obviously, as we are now hearing the beginning of scripture and his grandchildren are speaking here.
PHILLIP: That's right.
ZELENY: The family is also legacy.
PHILLIP: Let's go ahead and listen in to his grandchildren as they read these scriptures.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- heal their land.
(APPLAUSE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Come on, clap your hands again, everybody. Mrs. Jackson was strict. This is not a home going. This is a celebration.
CROWD: Yes!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And so together we will celebrate Reverend Jackson's life with much joy and much appreciation for all of his work. Can everybody shout Amen?
CROWD: Amen!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Now our gold family is to leave this place under three hours.
CROWD: Amen!
[12:40:02]
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Everyone on program has been given in a lot of time to share as we celebrate his life. And if your presentation is longer than the allotted time, we would love for you to continue that presentation on Facebook, Instagram. We would be happy to come to your page to continue to watch your tribute to Reverend Jackson. And teamwork makes the dream work --
PHILLIP: As this celebration of life for Reverend Jackson gets underway, we're going to squeeze in a quick break and get back to the service as it just begins right here in Chicago. We'll be right back.
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[12:45:17]
PHILLIP: Welcome back. We are now watching and listening to the celebration of life services for Reverend Jesse Jackson, senior in Chicago at the -- at a massive arena here where thousands of people are gathered to celebrate his life. You're listening to Rabbi Sharon Brous of Los Angeles. And this is a interfaith expression of prayer and faith, a reflection of the kinds of coalitions that Reverend Jackson often collected and created over the course of his life.
And you'll hear and see a lot of that as this service continues. Let's listen in.
RABBI SHARON BROUS, FOUNDER, IKAR: And I thanked God that morning that the man who reminded America that we must never give up on seeking to right the wrongs of the past would so fully embrace and was so fully embraced by our Jewish community. What a holy thing it is to be seen for who you really are, not in your worst moments, but in your best.
And I felt honored that our community could be a small part of this beloved community, the beloved community that Reverend Jackson helped envision a diverse coalition of faith and forgiveness, compassion, conscience, and courage. Reverend Jesse Jackson had turned his life into a story of redemption, a story of love, understanding and healing. And now a prayer.
Holy one of blessing as we celebrate the life of this moral and spiritual giants, help us remember that each of us too can turn our lives into a story of redemption, that our hearts are ever expansive, that forgiveness is always possible, that we are not yet done. As we honor Reverend Jackson, help us remember that though there is so much we cannot control in this crazy world, this we can. When we lead with love, we plant the seeds for a world that will be redeemed by love. And help us God, God help us. Remember that our nation too can still write a redemption story. Because the Psalmist teaches us, the Erev, Yelle, and Becke, the book Arena (ph), we may lie down weeping in the night, but joy comes. Joy comes in the morning.
Out of our brokenness will come healing. Out of our sorrow will come blessing. From our degradation will come dignity. It is not too late.
In his memory, we still plant the seeds of a just America, a compassionate America, a true multiracial democracy. Please God, we are aching for that joyous morning. In the spirit of Reverend Jesse Jackson, who reminded us that there is always a brighter side somewhere, grant us the strength in these dark and stormy days to keep on fighting, to keep on marching, to keep on loving until that long- awaited dawn finally emerges. Amen.
(APPLAUSE)
REV. OTIS MOSS III, TRINITY UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST: Let us pray. Gracious and the most merciful God, we come to you this day. We honor this son of the South, practitioner of good trouble and acolyte of holy mischief.
We honor a spiritual artist who painted upon the canvas of democracy with a rainbow coalition of colors that have been marginalized by antebellum myths that dismissed human dignity. We honor the rhetorical genius of a man whose oral dexterity had the ability to reshape notions of what is possible.
The simple phrase, I am somebody, when deployed by Reverend Jesse Louis Jackson, empowered a generation suffering from the effects of the lingering residue left by Confederate bacteria resting upon the unrealized constitutional promises in this space called America.
This prophet named Reverend Jesse Louis Jackson offered the world a moral imagination forged by the creative brilliance of the black church tradition. May we honor him by daring to keep hope alive. May we honor him by daring to speak truth to power.
May we honor him by daring to call out corruption, moral malfeasance, political narcissism, autocratic action, authoritarian behavior, and cult-like oligarch spirits masquerading as civic duty. May we honor him by daring to be a people united to save humanity.
Reverend Jesse Louis Jackson is now an ancestor, part of the great cloud of witnesses. May we be unafraid to tap into his ancestral intelligence. He is left to bless these persons who are yet to be born in this space called America.
[12:50:06]
We, the people of the city of big shoulders and broad dreams called the Chi, honor our prophet. We, the people of the democratic project of these yet-to-be United States of America, say goodbye to our prophet. May the spirit of Reverend Jesse Louis Jackson rest upon a new generation of prophets who are yet to come forth from their mother's womb.
We offer these prayers of farewell this day, and all those who gather in this space, who seek to keep hope alive, and know you are somebody, may say amen, amen, and amen.
(APPLAUSE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
(APPLAUSE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Praise the Lord, everybody. Can we celebrate the life of Reverend Jesse Jackson? I need everybody around the world, those of you that's here, come on, get up on your feet. We're going to do this song together. Here we go.
(SINGING)
BASH: OK, we're going to sneak in another quick break as we monitor and watch this really remarkable celebration of life for the late Reverend Jesse Jackson. Stay with us.
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[12:56:49]
BASH: Welcome back. Let's get back to Chicago and the funeral for Reverend Jesse Jackson.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- Joe Biden said to me, I love being in the black church.
(APPLAUSE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. President, we love it too. Listen, if they're -- if they are holding people outside and won't let them in, please let them inside. There is enough room still in the building not to hold anybody outside.
Our next three speakers are coming, Rabbi Steven Jacobs, Rabbi -- and I had the opportunity to go to Kosovo with Reverend Jackson to bring home three hostages and he is here. He's going to speak. Rabbi Jacobs and after Rabbi Jacobs, Pastor Steve Munsey, who has done so much to help us and to help this family. And then after Pastor Steve Munsey, everybody's TV judge, Judge Greg Mathis.
(APPLAUSE)
RABBI STEVEN JACOBS, PROGRESSIVE FAITH FOUNDATION: Honored leaders of our country, Governor Pritzker (ph), my governor from California, Gavin Newsom, my fellow clergy, the beautiful Jackson family, and my dear colleague, Rabbi Sharon Brous.
The psalmist knew it well. Reverend Jesse Jackson knew it well. Every person sitting in this sacred place knows it well, (foreign language). How good and how pleasant it is for brothers and sisters to dwell together in harmony.
(APPLAUSE)
JACOBS: I flew to DC in 1967 to join Martin Luther King in an anti- Vietnam protest rally with clergy from all around the country. There I met Reverend Jackson. It was a conversation with him that changed my life and my journey. He invited me to join him in several events, one in particular to speak at a memorial in Philadelphia, Mississippi, remembering Schwerner, Goodman, and Chaney, two Jews and a Black, who were murdered trying to register Blacks to vote.
A blessing traveling with Reverend Jackson is being able to experience his insights and vast knowledge of the world, its cultures, leaders, and politics. This was his theological vision of social justice and activism. He has been the pastor to the world in life and now in death. He challenged no-talk policy while negotiating with despots and enemies.
His life was dedicated to no-talk --
