At a Michigan rally Sunday evening, longtime civil rights activist and former presidential candidate Rev. Jesse Jackson gave his formal endorsement of Bernie Sanders for president.
“I stand with Bernie Sanders today because he’s still with me. I stand with him because he’s never lost his taste for justice of the people. I stand with him because he stands with you,” Jackson said to the crowd. He added, “the Biden campaign has not reached out to me or asked for my support.”
On Monday, Reverends Irene Monroe and Emmett G. Price III weighed the impact of Jackson's endorsement on the Democratic presidential race, ahead of Tuesday’s March 10th primaries.
"When you look at Sanders, you have [Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez] … you have Ariana Grande, Miley Cyrus, Cardi B … it’s becoming a generational challenge, and I think the challenge with Biden is [he’s] not asking," Price said. "He’s assuming that he’s the presumptive candidate from the Democratic Party, he has a Democratic organization behind him, and he’s not asking.”
"I don’t see [as] much of a generational gap as I see an ideological gap here,” Monroe added. "One of the things is — Jesse is a minister, he’s not a politician. He doesn’t have to play that particular game here. I think that by [aligning] with Bernie, it’s a continuation of his legacy.”
Monroe is a syndicated religion columnist and the Boston voice for Detour’s African American Heritage Trail and a visiting researcher in the Religion and Conflict Transformation Program at Boston University School of Theology.Price is professor of worship, church & culture and founding executive director of the Institute for the Study of the Black Christian Experience at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary.
Together they host the
All Rev’d Up podcast, produced by WGBH.
