By Barnett Wright | The Birmingham Times
Hezekiah Jackson IV, who once served as president of the Metro Birmingham NAACP and as a leader in more than a dozen civic organizations in the city, was remembered on Saturday as a man who interacted with leaders of the highest rank but never lost touch with everyday citizens.
Mr. Jackson, who died on August 6 at the age of 65, was celebrated during a 90-minute service at Sardis Baptist Church in West Birmingham and honored as a political activist; community empowerment guru; family patriarch; neighborhood and community president; and Foot Soldier in the Civil Rights struggle.
Rev. Andra Sparks, senior pastor of 45th Street Baptist Church in East Lake, where Jackson was a member, delivered the eulogy and said Mr. Jackson was a “church boy … [who] treated people like the church said you were supposed to be treated, [dealt] with people like they mattered, like the church said we’re supposed to.”
He continued, “Do y’all know that there are some people in this world folks will never care about? Hezekiah told them they mattered. He helped [everyday citizens] understand that they were valued and that’s why his work was so essential to our community,” said Rev. Sparks, who is also Presiding Judge for the City of Birmingham Municipal Court.
Mr. Jackson, a native of Birmingham and the East Birmingham and Kingston neighborhoods, attended city schools, Miles College and held associate degrees in business management and bachelor’s in business administration and became a certified bookkeeper.
He managed and served in a number of campaigns for Congress, Governor, House of Representatives, State Senate, Judge, Circuit Clerk, Mayor, City Council and Obama for America.
But his work in Civil and Human Rights and community and civic affairs led to his role as one of Birmingham’s most prominent “difference makers” over several decades, said Rev. Sparks.
Mr. Jackson served in leadership with nearly two dozen groups including 30 plus years with the Metro Birmingham NAACP, 20 years as president; leader of two neighborhoods: East Birmingham and Inglenook Community and president of the Citizen Advisory Board overseeing the 99 neighborhoods of Birmingham.
“When he got involved in your circumstances, he made a difference … ,” said the pastor. “Hezekiah was masquerading as a Foot Soldier, but he was really a general. The best generals have served as Foot Soldiers. They understand the walk and the work, they understand the sweat and the tears that come with the work we have to do.”
Bishop Calvin Woods, President Emeritus, Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) for the State of Alabama, among those who celebrated Mr. Jackson, said, “when the gates of heaven open wide Brother Hezekiah will step inside along with many others who fought in the freedom battle … along with all of those who are in this righteous struggle because they stood up faithfully and courageously and fought that all men, women and boys and girls would be free.”
Juandalynn Givan, a close friend who serves as State Rep. House District 60, read a “Love Note From Hez” that he penned the days leading up to his passing where he thanked those who made sure he was “casket ready, looking my most dapper.”
To his family, he wrote in part, “thank you for understanding,” Givan read, “that just because I didn’t come around all the time or you were not in my programs or involved, it didn’t mean that I didn’t love you, it didn’t mean that I loved anyone else more than you … My battles did not need to become your battles, [politics] is a contact sport. It can be brutal and it’s not for the faint of heart. And, therefore, I chose to walk in a particularly different life on this journey, but I knew that every step I took you were with me. Just note you were everywhere, you were every breath, you were every smile, as I stepped into the spotlight as sharp as I was.”
But Mr. Jackson, who helped plan his Homegoing, perhaps had the final words as he wrote for the program: “Thank you to the many who along my journey have taught me, mentored me, nurtured me, tolerated me, served beside me, loved me and looked beyond my faults and saw my needs! Until we meet again.”
