Jonathan L. Jackson is the middle son of Reverend Jesse Jackson and Dr. Jacqueline Jackson. He says, “the very fiber of my DNA is constructed with a passionate dedication to removing the walls of discrimination and other barriers that prevent hardworking men and women from achieving the American dream.”
Jonathan resides in Jackson Park Highlands and is married and the father of three children. A graduate of Whitney Young High School, he later majored in Business at North Carolina A&T University. He also earned a master’s degree from the Kellogg School of Business at Northwestern University.
His career began as an Investment Analyst at the Chicago Broad of Trade. He has invested in real estate, construction, and as a beer brewer. He also has been a professor of business. In addition, he has been an aid to his father, often traveling on international missions, and has been a national spokesperson for the Rainbow PUSH Coalition.
He is a candidate for Congress in the First Congressional District and endeavors to improve the quality of life for all. This is the first time he has run for public office.
The primary election is on June 28. The general election is on November 8.
N’DIGO: Why are you running for Congress?
Jonathan Jackson: Because the 1st Congressional District is in pain. I was born and raised in this area. Working poverty is increasing. Half of Illinoisans are making less than $20 an hour. The metric of ALICE is a new measure of poverty and at 12% you factor in the working people who are not being paid enough. So we have to be a part of a plan to raise wages. The violence is soaring in this region. The firearms, alcohol, and tobacco committees can do something about this at the national level. We need to make sure we receive our fair share of investment with the build back better, federal registration of $1.2 trillion in roads, bridges, and transportation. We need to make sure that the Southside of the city and the South Suburban region receives a fair share of investment so that we might be on the fair share of the transportation grid.
Describe your family life?
Wonderful. I have been married for 26 years. I have three adult children. I reside in Jackson Park Highlands, the same neighborhood I was raised in. I live across the street from my parents and around the corner from my brothers and sisters. I love the Southside and the city of Chicago. Yet, I have seen a decline. I have too many friends who have moved away and family friends to be victims of gun violence. We have to turn the massive exodus from Chicago around.
What are the top issues in Chicago in the First Congressional District?
Gun Violence. 261,000 African Americans have moved out of the city in the past two decades. People are moving because of safety reasons and opportunities, relocating to places that are more hospitable.
Housing. We have a housing burden. We need federal housing programs. In 2008 the South suburbs and the city was hard hit with subprime loans, Banks were giving subsidies funds to originate loans and African Americans were overcharged with their loans. This is very well documented.
Student Loan Debt. It should be confronted. In 2005/06 under the Bush administration there was bankruptcy reform and one of the major items that changed was discharging. You use to be able to eliminate student loan debt through bankruptcy, That was stopped. The student loan debt at the time was roughly $400 billion dollars and today in 2022 it has ballooned to $1.8 trillion. I would like to see the federal government eliminate the interest on student loan debt. So now, the interest exceeds the principal. One of the not-for-profit colleges took advantage of veterans with the new law. Targeted were veterans with 50% default rates and they are in debt forever. This needs to be resolved.
You have had an opportunity with your father to travel the world and see international politics at play. What have you learned?
You have to have a clean heart and be willing to have dirty hands. We have to have one yardstick to measure human rights. Leadership has to form opinions not just follow opinion polls. When we went to Iraq to meet with President Husain it wasn’t popular some say it wasn’t wise but necessary. But my father was willing to take a risk and give peace a chance and it opened up the dialogue to bring about peace within the region. Four hundred human shields were released. That was a $6 trillion war.
What do you hope to bring to the First Congressional District?
I have a working relationship with members of congress and proudly I have received the endorsement of Congressman Chevy Garcia, Benny Thompson, Maxine Waters, and Ro Khana. I look forward to continuing to work with Congressman Danny Davis. I look forward to bringing these relationships to fruition in the first congressional distancing combined with my own thoughts and ideas.
The First Congressional District is plagued with vacant lots, abandoned buildings so much so, that some areas look like a third-world country. What would you do to improve the plight?
There are so many opportunities, that we have to bring to reality. We have outstanding universities, workers, and families. For example, the Ford Motor Plant in Chicago Heights is an outstanding facility. It is not directly in the district but in the region. We have to collaborate. Ford Motor Company left West Memphis in 1952 to return back 70 years later to announce an $11 billion investment that will transform that region for electric vehicles. Most importantly because of Covid-19 and supply chain disruption, we will see more manufacturing jobs returning back to the United States. That’s 6,000 jobs going into Tennessee. I want to make sure that our region does not miss that type of opportunity.
How would help small businesses?
We have to revisit capital formation. We have to revisit the rules of Small Business Investment Corporation and Minority Enterprise Small Business Investment Corporation for minority business formation. These were investment tools that allow small businesses to leverage capital. I would like to see the playing field level. In 2008 the government provided $13 trillion in cash and credit for large businesses when they said the market was frozen and the credit marketing was melting. We have to create a credit market for small businesses where small businesses have not been treated fairly. Small businesses need a fair chance.
Name five political figures that you admire most.
1. Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. because his understanding of theology, law and culminating with action helped to secure the voting rights act that is the crown jewel of the American democracy. He led a non-violent revolution.
2. My father, Rev. Jesse Jackson, for taking his assignment from Dr. King to fight for economic justice and political empowerment. One of his crown achievements was running for President and changing the rules of the Democratic Party for proportionality.
3. Lady Bird Johnson because she took President Lyndon Baines Johnson’s message of civil rights and voters rights on a train ride in the south directly into the confederacy to explain to our fellow countrymen the necessity of the voter rights act. She received many death threats on that journey.
4. I love Phyllis Wheatley, because she was a child kidnapped from Gambia who taught herself several languages and at age 14 was a person freed from slavery. Her poems were an anagram, the manipulation of words that spoke in code. Her book was a bestseller in England. America would not share her picture on the book she authored.
5. Congressman John Conyers, because he was not a politician but a statesman. He could see the nation and understood his constituency pain and hopes. He was a founding member of the Congressional Black Caucus. He never dropped his mantel in Civil Rights.
