Today’s Daily Chicagoan is brought to you, in part, by:
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Democratic presidential hopeful Jesse Jackson with his wife, Jacqueline, salutes the cheering crowd at Operation Push in Chicago, March 10, 1988. (AP Photo / Fred Jewell, File)
|
The Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, a protege of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and two-time presidential candidate who led the Civil Rights Movement for decades after the revered leader’s assassination, died Tuesday. He was 84.
As a young organizer in Chicago, Jackson was called to meet with King at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee, shortly before King was killed, and he publicly positioned himself thereafter as King’s successor.
Jackson led a lifetime of crusades in the United States and abroad, advocating for the poor and underrepresented on issues from voting rights and job opportunities to education and health care. He scored diplomatic victories with world leaders, and through his Rainbow/PUSH Coalition, he channeled cries for Black pride and self-determination into corporate boardrooms, pressuring executives to make America a more open and equitable society.
And when he declared, “I am Somebody,” in a poem he often repeated, he sought to reach people of all colors. “I may be poor, but I am Somebody; I may be young; but I am Somebody; I may be on welfare, but I am Somebody,” Jackson intoned.
It was a message he took literally and personally, having risen from obscurity in the segregated South to become America’s best-known civil rights activist since King.
More on Jackson's life:
CNN anchor and journalist Abby Phillip detailed Jackson’s historic campaigns and political rise in her book, “A Dream Deferred: Jesse Jackson and the Fight for Black Political Power.” In October, she spoke to "Chicago Tonight" about the book and Jackson's storied public life.
From Obama’s election to Sen. Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaigns, Phillip argues that Jackson’s civil rights leadership and political career helped shape the country’s trajectory.
Jackson’s push for civic engagement and economic advancement in Black and Brown communities helped expand the Democratic Party’s voter base. Jackson ran for president in 1984 and 1988, but both times, he wasn’t able to secure the nomination. But several changes came out of his campaigns.
In a 2020 interview with WTTW News, Jackson said he pushed for proportional allocation of delegates in primaries and causes during his 1984 presidential bid.
“We democratized democracy; we changed it to proportionality,” Jackson said. “We changed the rules.”
|
|
|
|
|
|
Sponsor Message
|
|
Your 1st Step in Divorce. If you are contemplating or facing a separation or divorce, or know someone who is, then The Lilac Tree – Center for Divorce Resources is hosting our 43rd Divorce University™ Conference on February 26th and 27th. A two-day virtual conference with everything you need to know from trusted professionals and judges about how to navigate the process legally, financially, and emotionally. Prepare yourself calmly, feeling supported, educated, and resilient. Post event recordings are available for 10
weeks! Learn more at The Lilac Tree.org.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Left: Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle appears on the Oct. 16, 2025, episode of “Chicago Tonight.” (WTTW News) Right: Ald. Brendan Reilly (42nd Ward) announces a run for president of the Cook County Board of the Commissioners in a video posted to social media.
|
The debate over how to respond to President Donald Trump’s aggressive efforts to carry out the largest mass deportation effort in U.S. history is the newest flashpoint in the race for Cook County Board president.
Downtown Ald. Brendan Reilly’s decision to vote, just before Trump began his second term as president, to allow Chicago police officers to assist federal immigration agents in some cases means he is the wrong choice to lead Cook County, according to Toni Preckwinkle, who is running for a fifth term as president of the Board of Commissioners.
“Trump promised mass deportations during the campaign,” Preckwinkle told WTTW News. “Why would you vote to weaken the Welcoming City Ordinance before he took office?”
Some backstory:
Reilly, 54, who has represented the city’s 42nd Ward on the Chicago City Council since 2007, was one of 11 alderpeople to vote to consider a measure that would have allowed CPD officers to cooperate with federal immigration agents seeking to deport anyone arrested on suspicion of “gang-related activities,” “drug-related activities,” “prostitution-related activities” or “sexual crimes involving minors” or convicted of similar felony offenses.
Chicago’s Welcoming City Ordinance is designed to ensure that all Chicago residents, regardless of their citizenship or immigration status, can obtain city services, including police protection and medical care, officials said.
Preckwinkle spotlighted Reilly’s January 2025 vote in an advertisement that linked his vote to the deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, who were shot and killed by federal agents in Minneapolis.
Reilly declined to tell WTTW News whether he regretted that vote, or whether he would vote the same way in the aftermath of what the Trump administration dubbed “Operation Midway Blitz” in Chicago. However, Recent actions by federal agents have made him “look at ICE very differently,” Reilly said.
The purpose of the ordinance he voted for was “to get violent criminals off the streets, including rapists and domestic violence offenders,” Reilly said. “Citizenship, or lack thereof, is not a shield for violent criminals.”
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
(WTTW News)
|
There is no evidence that Chicago police brass updated Mayor Brandon Johnson and three City Council committee chairs about their progress in crafting a system designed to alert officials about which officers have been the subject of repeated police misconduct allegations, as required by city law.
The ordinance that implemented the city’s 2026 budget included a provision requiring monthly updates on long-delayed efforts to craft and implement that system, which is required under the terms of the consent decree, the federal court order designed to compel the department to change the way it trains, supervises and disciplines officers.
A letter was supposed to be sent to Johnson; Ald. Pat Dowell (3rd Ward), the chair of the Finance Committee; Ald. Jason Ervin (28th Ward), the chair of the Budget Committee; and Ald. Chris Taliaferro (29th Ward), the chair of the Police and Fire Committee. A CPD spokesperson said the department had no record of the letter due Feb. 1.
More context:
When he announced the requirement for monthly updates about the system, Johnson said it would make it possible for police leaders to offer officers “early, individualized interventions that improve performance, accountability and wellness — reducing misconduct, building community trust, and lowering litigation costs,” according to the mayor’s office.
|
|
|
|
|
|
More From WTTW News:
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
Back in the Day: February 17, 2011 - ‘80s Bears Safety Dave Duerson Dies by Suicide
|
Dave Duerson played 11 years in the NFL as a safety. He spent seven seasons with the Chicago Bears, appearing in four Pro Bowls and winning two Super Bowls, the first with the Bears in 1985 and the second in 1990 with the New York Giants. On this day 15 years ago, Duerson died by suicide, shooting himself in the chest at his home in Florida. In a note left at the scene, he wrote to a family member, “Please see that my brain is given to the NFL's brain bank.” An autopsy conducted at the Boston
University Center for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy (CSTE) showed that Duerson's brain was riddled with classic signs of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a form of brain damage that is a growing issue for the NFL. CTE has been found in 345 of 376 deceased former NFL players studied, including Duerson. Following Duerson’s death, a class action lawsuit from former players hit the NFL, resulting in a settlement worth well over $1 billion that was confirmed in 2016.
|
|
|
|
|
|
This Week’s Staff Recommendations
|
Every Tuesday, WTTW News staffers highlight their favorite things in Chicago. This week, it’s Andrew Montequin, Minow Fellow for WTTW News and "Chicago Tonight," on his favorite Chicago street festival concerts.
Andrew Montequin: Even though this is my ninth winter in the Midwest, I still can’t shake the feeling every February that maybe it will just be cold forever. But with false spring (and Music Frozen Dancing!) here, I’m starting to think that maybe summer will make it back this year. With that, I wanted to look back on some of my favorite summer street festival performances. To the extent that there’s a “recommendation” buried in here, I say to trust local music venues to organize solid line-ups even outside of the evening
headliners.
Jeff Rosenstock @ Revolution Oktoberfest, 2017
Music? In the street? How is the train loud enough to drown out the music? This was a “welcome to Chicago” moment for me, having moved here a month prior. And even though Jeff’s album, “Worry,” was a year old by that point, it still reminds me of that year’s summer-into-fall transition.
Multiple Artists @ Silver Room Block Party, 2018
Silver Room Block Party, gone but not forgotten. Although it was famous for performances spread throughout the neighborhood, I took in this one by parking myself in front of one stage for a whole afternoon. Sets from Sidewalk Chalk, Georgia Anne Muldrow and Ron Trent spanned the jazz-soul-electronic spectrum in a way that sadly has been hard to find with this festival gone.
Lifeguard @ Do Division, 2022
At some point during the COVID-19 hiatus, I realized I would rather show up early and avoid the peak evening crowds. I stumbled onto this set from a band I had never heard of, with a name that isn’t easily searchable. This may have been the last lightly attended show Lifeguard played. The next time I saw them was at a packed house at Metro.
Finom @ Square Roots, 2024
Chicago legends. It’s always fun going to a concert where it feels like half the audience knows the band personally. I left this one and had to buy a ticket to their album release show a few months later.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
What is the most underrated Chicago food item?
|
|
|
Email DailyChicagoan@wttw.com with your responses and your answers might be published.
|
|
|
|
|
|
5:30 PM | 10:00 PM
|
|
|
|
Want more WTTW News content? Follow WTTW on Instagram to check in with us daily, go behind-the-scenes, and more.
|
Newsletter Producer: Josh Terry
|
|
|
|
|
