U.S. civil rights leader Jesse Jackson hospitalized

Rev. Jesse Jackson, centre, waves to supporters as he is introduced during the Democratic National Convention Monday, Aug. 19, 2024, in Chicago. Walking with Jackson on stage are, from left to right, Al Sharpton, Jonathan Jackson and Yusef DuBois Jackson. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

U.S. civil rights leader Jesse Jackson is hospitalized and currently under observation for progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP), the Chicago-based Rainbow PUSH Coalition, which he founded, said on Wednesday.

“He has been managing this neurodegenerative condition for more than a decade,” the organization said in a statement.

“He was originally diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease; however, last April, his PSP condition was confirmed. The family appreciates all prayers at this time.”

The 84-year-old reverend has been a leader of the U.S. civil rights movement since the 1960s. He fought for the rights of Black Americans and other minorities alongside his mentor, Martin Luther King Jr., and was present when King was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1968.

Jackson announced in 2017 that he had Parkinson’s disease, an ailment that constrains movement and gets progressively worse with time.

In 2021, he was hospitalized after testing positive for COVID-19, and again after falling and hitting his head.

The Rainbow PUSH Coalition is a merger between “People United to Save Humanity,” a group Jackson founded in 1971 to continue King’s work, and a coalition he formed after his first unsuccessful run for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1984.

(Reporting by Rishabh Jaiswal and Nilutpal Timsina in Bengaluru; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman and Jacqueline Wong)