Civil Rights icon Reverend Jesse Jackson becomes Honorary Fellow at Homerton, Cambridge, UK
By Professor Chris Imafidon – Historians document that Rev Jesse L. Jackson personally cheated death when Martin Luther King Jnr was murdered because he was within inches of the bullets fire to the his hotel balcony. Recently there was a frantic tweet which went viral asking the whole world to pray for Rev Jackson because covid-19 knocked him down and was hospitalised. So it was shocking to students and scholars of Cambridge when they heard Lord Simon announce that Rev Jackson was live in person and ready to join the team of Fellows (Professors).
Most people asked how he was able to brushed every challenge aside and set sail to the UK in part to be inducted as an Honorary Fellow of Homerton College, University of Cambridge’s largest college.
College Principal, Lord Simon Woolley, says that he want, Homerton students and scholars to follow the teachings of Reverend Jackson so that they can really believe that they are world changers.
So this week, political icon Reverend Jesse L. Jackson was officially sworn in as an Honorary Fellow of Homerton College, Cambridge, UK.
A veteran against racism alongside Martin Luther King, Junior, and a lifelong civil rights campaigner, of the 1960s, Reverend Jackson founded Operation PUSH (People United to Serve Humanity) in 1971, and the National Rainbow Coalition in 1984. The two operations merged in 1996, becoming the Rainbow PUSH Coalition (RPC), which today is an international human and civil rights organisation, working to empower people through grassroots advocacy.
Born in Greenville, South Carolina, in 1941, he was ordained as a Baptist minister in 1968. He stood as the Democratic candidate for the Presidency in 1984 and 1988 and gave speeches which cemented his reputation as a powerful and passionate orator.
Lord Woolley, Principal of Homerton, said: “This, no doubt, will be one of my greatest professional honours, to induct civil rights icon, Reverend Jesse Jackson to Homerton College as an Honorary Fellow. This Honorary Fellowship sounds out a clear statement of intent: as a College we’re ambitious, and we want our students and researchers to believe that they, like Reverend Jackson, can change our world.”
MARTIN LUTHER KING JNR
The life-long civil rights icon, who is famed for working alongside Martin Luther King Jr in the 1960s, was awarded the prestigious honour by Lord Simon Woolley, who is the first ever person of African extraction to become Principal of the college. He is also the first black man ever to lead a any college in Cambridge or Oxford University in over seven hundred years.
RATIONALE OF HOMERTON, CAMBRIDGE
Lord Woolley said, it was his “greatest honour to include Rev. Jesse Jackson amongst Homerton College’s Honorary Fellows.”
He emphasised that “For more than 60 years Reverend Jackson has been at the forefront in the struggle for social and racial justice, not just in the US, but across the world.”
“This Honorary Fellowship sounds out a clear statement of intent: As a College we are ambitious, and we want our students and researchers to believe that they, like Reverend Jackson, can change our world.”
The two organisations merged efforts and experience so that they can combine as one in 1996. It was then formally renamed …. becoming the Rainbow PUSH Coalition (RPC). Currently, this organisation serves as an international human and civil rights organisation, working to empower people through grassroots advocacy.
Rev Jackson taught the world that you can be a private citizen but dictate international events through creative initiatives and diplomacy. He taught us that you can be influential and powerful without being in power. This is demonstrated by the fact that during the 1980s and 1990s he single-handedly negotiated the release of dozens of international hostages and prisoners.
The two organisations merged efforts and experience so that they can combine as one in 1996. It was then formally renamed …. becoming the Rainbow PUSH Coalition (RPC). Currently, this organisation serves as an international human and civil rights organisation, working to empower people through grassroots advocacy.
HONOURS FOR JACKSON
Rev. Jesse Jackson has been bestowed multiple honours in his lifetime and was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Bill Clinton in 2000, and this year French President Emmanuel Macron awarded him the Légion D’Honneur. He was recently unanimously voted to be honoured at the 11th Annual African Achievers’ award ceremony which had its reception in Kensington Palace, London alongside Deaconess Anna Imafidon, matriarch of the Britain’s brainiest family; Current Speaker of ECOWAS; Alhaji Muiliu Smith; Dr Dauda Lawal; Professor Sunday Elusoji, Revd Olutayo; Hon Patrick Uduma, HE Deacon Udom Gabriel Emmanuel; HE Dr Pius Odubu; Ms Emem Okon; Prof Georgewill (UNIPORT); Douglas Vermeeren; Chief Don Etiebet; Engr Isaac Udotong; Nicholas Odiase, Dr Nosa Evbwmomwan. Other African Achievers award nominees are Dr Evidence Green; Sir Lewis Hamilton etc. Today, Rev Jackson is more known for his 1984 and 1988 presidential campaigns, Jackson won 16 state contests and millions of votes, making him the first viable African-American candidate for president.
Professor Chris Imafidon, is a multi-Guinness World record holder; Internationally renowned adviser to monarchs, governments, presidents and corporate leaders; Mentor to multi-millionaire tech entrepreneurs, Coach to New York Times Bestellers and a Sunday Times Op-ed author. He is a %X International bestselling author, Wall Street Journal bestselling author, and a celebrated royal biographer. His research and innovation have been recognized internationally, winning multiple awards in many continents across multiple disciplines and his mentees are global leaders in pioneers and also world record holders. [Twitter @ChrisImafidon; Instagram @CoImafidon; Facebook/Linkedln/Clubhouse –Professor Chris Imafidon]
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