He Was SomebodyJesse Jackson holds a special place in my life. I am an early Sesame Street kid—Sesame Street, Electric Company, Zoom, Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood, and Romper Room shaped my childhood. Born in the post-soul moment, after the Civil Rights and Black Power movements, I often heard that there was a void of real Black leadership. My parents, children of sharecroppers, migrated north after my father landed a job with IBM. We had a small black-and-white television, and I remember watching children’s shows and cartoons as the Black middle class expanded in the wake of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Growing up in predominantly white spaces, away from extended family, I watched Sesame Street with joy, seeing children who looked like me on public television. I remember seeing Rev. Jackson on Sesame Street, encouraging a multiracial group of small children to realize they were somebody. I felt seen. Every time he said, “I am somebody,” something leapt inside me. I came of age as companies began making Black baby dolls and Barbie dolls (then named Christie). My mother had not grown up with dolls that looked like her, so she made sure we had them, always reminding me how different the world was in rural Mississippi. Children need to feel seen and affirmed, not othered. Jesse Jackson helped a generation of Black and brown children believe they could grow up to be whatever they wanted. Rev. Jackson was more than a civil rights icon, an ordained minister, or a politician. He affirmed a generation of Black and brown children living through the backlash of white resentment toward people of color seeking better lives. After the Civil Rights and Voting Rights Acts, we are often told that Black people lived happily ever after and that the struggle for human and civil rights ended. What is rarely acknowledged is that this era unleashed new laws that reshaped racism, making it look different from Jim Crow while preserving its harms. Redlining created new forms of segregation, with neglected neighborhoods and inadequate schools that still appeared “legal.” Many children in the 70s and 80s grew up under more oppressive policies than those in prior decades. As the Supreme Court shifted from liberal to conservative, Jesse Jackson built Rainbow PUSH in this climate, imagining a world where people of every color lived with dignity and had the opportunity to thrive. I am grateful to have lived in a world where I heard a proud Black man with a dope afro tell me that I am somebody. I believed him. I listened when he spoke. I cannot imagine how Rev. Jackson felt watching what has unfolded over the past two decades, as so much of his hard work is undone. He cared about social and political representation so that others would care, too. I pray that those of us who grew up with the words “I am somebody” keep speaking them to the generations after us, so we all know that we matter and are loved. Servant of God, well done. Rest from thy loved employ; the battle fought, the victory won, enter thy master’s joy. Please take a moment to watch Rev. Jackson on Sesame Street in 1972. I am Somebody-Jesse Jackson ––Rev. Moya Harris, Sojourners
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