OPINION: Behind the lens: My 40-year journey with Jesse Jackson

Jesse Jackson is one of my heroes. His passing stands as a signpost for a brilliant and valiant era aimed at achieving this nation’s original promise of equality and justice for all.

I met the Rev. Jackson in January 1986, in Atlanta where I filmed my PBS biography of Martin Luther King Jr., "In Remembrance of Martin." He was full of memories. His eyes rimmed with tears.

We spoke together in Dr. King’s office at Ebenezer Baptist Church. He stood behind King’s desk and waxed with typical eloquence about his mentor.

Jackson recalled how he and King and a small circle of nonviolent activists sat in that office and decided and acted upon a history-making moral agenda designed to lift us out of centuries of hatred and fear.

He was with Dr. King in Memphis when “the drum major for justice” was assassinated. King had seen the promise in his young protege and kept him close.

Courage, determination and leadership marked Jackson’s path after King’s assassination. Along with many others I saw Jesse Jackson as the obvious successor to King’s irreplaceable leadership.

After King’s death Jackson founded his Chicago organization PUSH. It was an appropriate title for his method for social change. Jackson used the vehicle to push for equal economic opportunity and a place at the table for all — the poor, the oppressed, the rainbow of humanity’s colors and types.

I was a delegate for Jackson at the Texas Democratic Convention when he ran for president against all odds in 1984. "Against all odds" defined Jesse Jackson’s audacious lifelong pursuit of justice.

In September, 1987 I documented Rev. Jackson again when he showed up at a set of desolate railroad tracks outside the Concord Naval Weapons Station in California to lead prayers where a U.S. veteran, protesting our proxy war in Nicaragua, had been run over by a train carrying weapons bound for that war.

Throughout the years of struggle, Jackson always showed up.

I identified with the tears of joy on his face as he watched Barack Obama win the presidency in 2008. The dream Rev. Jackson shared with Martin Luther King Jr. was coming true. It was written all over his face on that unforgettable day. His 1984 run had set the stage.

Tireless, fearless and spot-on with the words and actions the moment required were the qualities Jesse Jackson brought to a life which, has secured its place in history.

Kell Kearns is a documentary filmmaker. His works include "In Remembrance of Martin," a PBS biography; "Gandhi's Gift," "Gandhi's Awakening," PBS biographies of Mohandas Gandhi; "Rumi Returning," a PBS biography of the great Sufi poet and dervish. He lives in Albuquerque.