Rev Jesse Jackson, the civil rights leader, and two-time presidential candidate has been hospitalized after testing positive for Covid-19, according to a statement.
According to a report by the Guardian, “he and his wife, 77, were being treated at Northwestern memorial hospital in Chicago, said his nonprofit Rainbow/Push Coalition. Jesse Jackson, 79, is vaccinated against the virus and received his first dose in January during a publicized event as he urged others to do so as soon as possible.”
A protégé of the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jackson played a vital role in the modern civil rights movement on issues such as voting rights, and more recently, advocating for vaccines for Black people. He was a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1984 and 1988 and served as a shadow U.S. Senator for the District of Columbia from 1991 to 1997.
CNBC reports that earlier this month, he was arrested outside the U.S. Capitol during a demonstration calling for Congress to end the filibuster in order to support voting rights.