Former President Barack Obama delivered a stern rebuke of the Trump administration during a memorial service this week for civil rights leader Reverend Jesse Jackson Sr. to reflect on what he described as a difficult moment for American democracy, while urging people to carry forward Jackson’s legacy of activism and moral courage.
Speaking to mourners gathered to honor the longtime civil rights advocate, Obama said many Americans today feel discouraged by the state of public life and the strain on democratic institutions.
“We are living in a time when it can be hard to hope,” Obama said, describing what he portrayed as repeated attacks on democratic institutions and the rule of law, with Americans now waking up almost daily to developments in politics that once seemed unimaginable.
Obama Calls Out The Trump Administration
Obama described a political environment in which officials from the current administration encourage Americans to fear one another and treat some people as less deserving than others.
“Each day we’re told by those in high office to fear each other and to turn on each other,” he stated.
Obama also condemned what he characterized as a culture increasingly shaped by greed, bigotry, and cruelty—trends he suggested are being normalized or rewarded in the current political environment.
He criticized the dismissal of scientific knowledge and professional expertise in public life, warning that dishonesty and corruption are too often allowed to flourish.
Those conditions, Obama warned, can tempt people to retreat from public life or accommodate those in power rather than challenge them. Some may try to wait out the current moment, hoping the political climate will eventually change.
Obama Empowers The People: ‘If We Don’t Step Up, No One Else Will’
But Obama said the life of Jackson offers a different example—one defined by persistence and the willingness to confront injustice even when doing so is unpopular or difficult.
Jackson, a longtime leader in the civil rights movement, consistently chose to challenge entrenched power rather than compromise with it, Obama pointed out.
The former president urged Americans to see Jackson’s legacy as a reminder that progress requires people to step forward when democratic values are under threat.
“If we don’t step up, no one else will,” Obama stated.
