French president honors US civil rights leader Jesse Jackson

French President Emmanuel Macron has made American civil rights leader Jesse Jackson a commander of the Legion of Honor, France’s highest award

PARIS -- French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday made American civil rights leader Jesse Jackson a commander of the Legion of Honor, France’s highest award, for helping “change the destiny of the United States” and with it, the world. Jackson, 79, who had gallbladder surgery this year and is being treated for Parkinson’s disease, had visible difficulty walking. The founder of the Rainbow/PUSH coalition and two-time U.S. presidential candidate sat beside the podium as Macron spoke at a ceremony in Paris. “He’s a visionary with talent for uniting and leading people, whose moral and physical courage… has helped him to overcome adversity and change the destiny of the United States, our oldest ally, and to change our world for the better,” Macron said at the gathering at the presidential Elysee Palace. Speaking in English, the French president called Jackson “a great friend of France” and “very popular in our country, but not just in our country.”