Rev. Jesse Jackson was hospitalized after he fell and hit his head during a visit at Howard University in Washington, D.C. on Monday. The 80-year-old civil rights icon was set to attend a town hall with the university’s president Wayne A.I. Frederick and the students who have been protesting their living conditions on campus.
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“When Rev. Jackson entered a building on campus, he fell and hit his head. His staff took him to the Howard University Hospital where various tests were run including a CT scan,” said Jackson’s organization, Rainbow PUSH Coalition, in a statement, according to CNN. “The results came back normal. However, hospital officials decided to keep Rev. Jackson overnight for observation.”
The activist is one of many civil rights leaders that have expressed support to Howard students over the past few weeks. CBS reports that Jackson is being kept at Howard University Hospital.
Here’s more about the protests at Howard, from CNN:
Students at Howard University have been protesting since mid-October against what they say are substandard living conditions such as mold, mice and roaches in campus dorms.
Black leaders have rallied around the students at the historically Black college, who have been assembling for sit-ins to demand that the university address their concerns.
Martin Luther King III, the eldest son of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., and NAACP President Derrick Johnson are among those to have praised the students for taking the action.
Frederick, the university president, addressed the protests in a letter to the Howard community last week.
Frederick called on students to end their occupation of a university center, saying they were impeding “operations and access to essential services” and creating health and safety risks.
The university was working with housing partners to ensure that all maintenance tickets were handled expeditiously, he said.
“We can confirm that Rev. Jackson was taken to the hospital by a university administrator and was later joined by Dr. Wayne Frederick. Our prayers are with the Jackson family,” the university tweeted late last night.
Jackson, who has Parkinson’s disease, was hospitalized back in August alongside his wife after they both tested positive for COVID-19. He also had abdominal surgery earlier this year. Despite his recent health troubles, Jackson has continued to be vocal in numerous social justice issues this year, including being arrested twice during demonstrations over the summer.
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