MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
For a second day, members of the public will have a chance to pay their respects to the Reverend Jesse Jackson. He's lying in repose at the organization he founded decades ago, the Rainbow PUSH Coalition. Jackson died just over a week ago. The civil rights icon will also be honored in South Carolina and Washington, D.C., before his funeral is held in Chicago next week. NPR's Cheryl Corley reports.
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CHERYL CORLEY, BYLINE: People waiting to enter the Rainbow PUSH Coalition building Thursday lined up behind metal barricades before being led into the building. Chicagoan Curtis Lawrence, a former professor and journalist, came early and says Jackson simply had a way of connecting with people.
CURTIS LAWRENCE: Jesse Jackson told everybody not that they could be somebody, but that they were an activist, too. So I think the thing was to not just to look for a leader, but to look for the leader in you. And I think that's what he left with everybody.
CORLEY: Standing nearby, Christine Harris (ph) called Jackson a hero. She traveled from Texas to say her goodbyes. She says Jackson's presidential runs had a huge impact on her.
CHRISTINE HARRIS: I was a delegate in Texas for him in '88 to the state convention. And he just inspired me. And I ended up going into - I was a paralegal for a civil rights firm after that for 25 years.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
CORLEY: Inside the auditorium, there's music and Jackson's open casket, surrounded by flowers. A montage of photos plays on a screen while Jackson's relatives and dignitaries shake hands and hug people as they approach. Later, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson said Jackson was both a friend and a mentor. Johnson says he now tells young people that the opportunities they and others have today came from struggle.
BRANDON JOHNSON: And that Reverend Jesse Jackson Sr. was a part of that struggle to create opportunities for young people. And my hope is that, as we face tremendous challenges in this particular political climate, that young people draw hope and strength from Reverend Jackson's life.
CORLEY: Chicago Archbishop Blase Cupich met Jackson on Good Friday in 2015 during a march against gun violence. He says Jackson's familiar tagline, keep hope alive, sums up what Jackson's life was about.
BLASE CUPICH: He knew that there's a difference between hope and optimism. Optimism is about tomorrow. Hope is about today. We have to do things now. There's an urgency. And I think that really motivated his life to make sure we don't put off promoting justice and equality.
CORLEY: And the cardinal added that Jackson was a man of the cloth driven by a deep faith, who wanted peace, not violence, and had an urgent need to help the vulnerable.
Cheryl Corley, NPR News, Chicago. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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