{"id":1297,"date":"2026-03-01T18:04:17","date_gmt":"2026-03-01T18:04:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/westcoastaftershock.com\/wca\/2026\/03\/samuel-l-jackson-honors-rev-jesse-jackson-with-impassioned-speech-at-naacp-image-awards\/"},"modified":"2026-03-01T18:04:17","modified_gmt":"2026-03-01T18:04:17","slug":"samuel-l-jackson-honors-rev-jesse-jackson-with-impassioned-speech-at-naacp-image-awards","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/westcoastaftershock.com\/wca\/2026\/03\/samuel-l-jackson-honors-rev-jesse-jackson-with-impassioned-speech-at-naacp-image-awards\/","title":{"rendered":"Samuel L. Jackson Honors Rev. Jesse Jackson With Impassioned Speech At NAACP Image Awards"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p>Donned in traditional African garb, Samuel L. Jackson took the stage at the 2026 NAACP Image Awards to honor the late Rev. Jesse Jackson\u2019s memory. Throughout his impassioned speech, he gave an overview of the civil rights icon\u2019s life and legacy. \u201cWe all know the story of Jesse Jackson,\u201d Jackson began. \u201cBorn to an 18-year-old unwed mother in Greenville, South Carolina. Growing up in the Jim Crow South, getting out on a path that led him to the top of the mountain.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFor over half a century \u2014 which is a long damn time to be on the front lines \u2014 he advocated for the poor, the disenfranchised, for those who needed work,\u201d Jackson continued. \u201cAnd he found jobs for our community in every endeavor, including entertainment.\u201d Jackson also acknowledged how the activist inspired him in his youth. \u201cHe inspired a young man who has the same last name as his \u2014 one Samuel L. Jackson.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Samuel L. Jackson honors the late great Rev. Jesse Jackson at the 2026 <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/NAACPImageAwards?src=hash&#038;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#NAACPImageAwards<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/iuHJxTt97L\">pic.twitter.com\/iuHJxTt97L<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 clubheartbreak (@clubheartbreak) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/clubheartbreak\/status\/2027918931277791654?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">March 1, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-we-will-carry-the-torch-he-lit-and-keep-hope-alive-jackson-says\">\u201cWe will carry the torch he lit and keep hope alive,\u201d Jackson Says<\/h2>\n<p>Jackson also made a call-to-action to all the attendees in the room to stand up for injustice, no matter how small. \u201cAll of us, in some degree or another, have spoken out, marched, protested\u2026 inspired by a man who now, I\u2019m sure, resides with the good Lord in heaven,\u201d Jackson said. \u201c\u2026Whenever we see that a wrong must be made right, all of us can ask ourselves: W.J.D. \u2014 what would Jesse do?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe will continue his mission,\u201d Jackson declared toward the end of his speech. \u201cWe will carry the torch he lit and keep hope alive. And we will not be erased from this country\u2019s history because we are somebody\u2026\u201d Earlier this month, Rev. Jesse Jackson passed away after battling a rare neurological disorder. He had been surrounded by family at home in Chicago, Illinois. \u201cOur father was a servant leader \u2014 not only to our family, but to the oppressed, the voiceless, and the overlooked around the world. We shared him with the world, and in return, the world became part of our extended family,\u201d the family <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hot97.com\/news\/civil-rights-icon-rev-jesse-jackson-dies-at-84\/\">wrote in a statement<\/a>. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Donned in traditional African garb, Samuel L. Jackson took the stage at the 2026 NAACP Image Awards to honor the&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14044,"featured_media":1577,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,6],"tags":[10,9],"class_list":["post-1297","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-rss","tag-culture","tag-hip-hop"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/westcoastaftershock.com\/wca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1297","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/westcoastaftershock.com\/wca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/westcoastaftershock.com\/wca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/westcoastaftershock.com\/wca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14044"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/westcoastaftershock.com\/wca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1297"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/westcoastaftershock.com\/wca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1297\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/westcoastaftershock.com\/wca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1577"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/westcoastaftershock.com\/wca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1297"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/westcoastaftershock.com\/wca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1297"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/westcoastaftershock.com\/wca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1297"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}