'My introduction to Jesse Jackson, Sr. was not as the Civil Rights champion and icon, but as a friend of my father. My dad, Michael Figures, ran Jesse Jackson's
"My introduction to Jesse Jackson, Sr. was not as the Civil Rights champion and icon, but as a friend of my father. My dad, Michael Figures, ran Jesse Jackson's Alabama campaign during his historic run for president in 1984.
For decades after my father died, Mr. Jackson would always greet me with, 'How's Vivian?' before proceeding to tell me stories about my dad. As a child, I didn't fully understand the proximity to history I had in being connected to Mr. Jackson, but as I grew older, I appreciated it more and more. This was a man who marched and led alongside Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., John Lewis, Fred Shuttlesworth, and countless other civil rights foot soldiers. This was a man who fought tirelessly to keep hope — and the dream of equality — alive. "Jesse Jackson always showed up. Whether in Mobile, AL to protest with my father after the murder of Michael Donald, or in Iran to free American hostages when the U.S. government couldn't do it, or in Selma every year to commemorate Bloody Sunday. Jesse Jackson advocated for America to be its best self. There's a part of me that wonders if Mr. Jackson and my father ever thought in their wildest dreams that over 40 years after they met, they would have children serving in the U.S. Congress. But I know that answer would be yes, because that's exactly the type of future they fought for."I extend my deepest condolences to his wife, Jacqueline, and the entire Jackson family for the loss of this giant in the fight for civil rights and equality for all."Nine people were shot in two separate shootings in downtown Mobile Sunday night, hours after nearly 120,000 people attended Joe Cain Day parades. One man is deaSunday night, 11 p.m. on Dauphin Street.With the day's parades at an end, hundreds of Mobilians and visitors to the city continued celebrating a successful JoeMobile Police confirm one male victim is deceased and multiple victims are injured following a shooting that occurred late Sunday nightnear Dauphin and JoachimThey phone-scammed a Fairhope couple, then showed up demanding gold Panic.Maybe you've felt it for a moment when you thought you lost your child at a Mardi Gras parade... or you couldn't find your ID and you're already late for
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