Family, friends and local organizers are mourning the loss of Ronald “Kowboy” Jackson, a longtime community organizer who was a charismatic, generous, thoughtful and fearless champion of mental health and social justice movements in Chicago, according to those closest to him.
Jackson passed away on Jan. 23 due to liver cancer. He was 70 years old. His loved ones will gather Friday afternoon for a memorial service at the King Center in Bronzeville.
Kowboy is an acronym for knowledge, organized, wisdom and brotherhood. These are traits that he embodied throughout his life. Born in Chicago on Aug. 22, 1954, he was the second youngest of seven siblings and grew up on the West Side.
His nephew, Andrea Jackson, recalls his constant presence throughout his life. “He was my cub scout leader. He became a part of anything that I was into,” Andrea recalled. When Andrea was interested in playing basketball and football, his uncle learned, too, and he was more than an uncle to Andrea; he was a dad.
“We were always playing Monopoly every Sunday after church. I still think he used to cheat because he’d always win,” Andrea said jokingly. “He was always there. He always had time for family.”
Jackson was known for his sense of humor and signature style. He also always donned a pair of black sunglasses and a cowboy hat that matched his outfit perfectly, along with a wooden staff, his nephew said.
When Andrea was in the sixth grade at Crown Community Academy of Fine Arts on the West Side, Jackson even stayed with him all night to finish making a volcano for a science fair project.
“He wouldn’t let me sleep until I memorized everything. I gave the best presentation. When he puts his mind to something, he’s going to study and study until he knows what he’s talking about, and then he’s going to make you aware of what he’s talking about,” Andrea said, referring to his uncle.
Now, Andrea is organizing a GoFundMe to help cover funeral services, cremation and final bills.
Jackson’s dedication to youth also extended to young organizers in the movement for Black Lives. He trusted the next generation and followed their lead, said Alex Goldenberg, former director of STOP (Southside Together Organizing for Power), now Southside Together.
“People salute the youth but don’t trust their leadership. Kowboy was different,” Goldenberg said. “He showed up to all the Laquan McDonald and Black Lives Matter demonstrations organized by youth. He followed their discipline, and leadership was there to offer wisdom when asked.”
Though he grew up on the West Side, Jackson became a South Sider. After a car accident in 2002 left him paralyzed from the neck down, he lived in a Woodlawn nursing home for 11 years, he previously told The TRiiBE on May 30. He would later regain his ability to walk.
While a nursing home resident, Jackson became a leader organizing fellow residents to advocate for better living conditions and dignity, according to STOP co-founder Matt Ginsberg-Jaeckle.
In 2011, Jackson joined the Mental Health Movement, a coalition of organizations pushing to keep former mayor Rahm Emanuel from shuttering the city’s public health clinics, one of which was the Woodlawn Clinic, where Jackson participated in a men’s group. He was also a leader in the Community Health Advisory Board of Chicago.
Despite opposition, Chicago City Council members voted 50-0 to approve Emanuel’s first budget, which included closing six of the city’s 12 public mental health clinics. Four of the clinics were located on the South Side.
In response, activists staged an occupation of the Woodlawn Clinic before it was shut down in 2012, and Jackson was also part of that action.
Jackson and 22 others were arrested.
“Kowboy was a doer. He was willing to sit in, willing to be on the front lines, knock on the doors, to make the phone calls, to do the glamorous and the not glamorous work that are both part and parcel of any successful effort at making change,” Ginsberg-Jaeckle said.
The coalition would later form a tent occupation across the street from the Woodlawn Clinic for about four months. Despite his mobility challenges, Jackson gathered wood for bonfires and watched over others at the site.
“I volunteered to help with the occupation and was sleeping in a van. Kowboy would come sit with me to keep me company and make sure I was okay. I was grateful for that,” Jesus Chuy Campuzano said. He’s a member of the Mental Health Movement and was part of the tent occupation group.
There’s a clear throughline from the Mental Health Movement to Treatment Not Trauma, which advocates for non-police crisis response and expanded public mental health services.
Jackson’s advocacy is integral to that, according to Ald. Rossana Rodriguez Sanchez (33rd Ward). She chairs the City Council’s Health and Human Relations committee and is a leader in the Treatment Not Trauma campaign.
“He devoted so many years of his life to advocating for mental health care for everybody, for accessible mental health care for everybody. And knowing that he’s no longer with us was a really painful thing to realize,” Rodriguez Sanchez said. “I would say that the thing that gives me a little bit of happiness right now is that he was able to be there for this press conference when we announced that we were reopening the Roseland Clinic.”
On Jan. 8, Mayor Brandon Johnson reopened the previously closed Roseland Mental Health Clinic. The Chicago Department of Health-operated clinic, now known as the Roseland Health Hub, will offer no-cost mental health and sexual health services to city residents, regardless of insurance or immigration status.
“He was able to leave knowing that his work in the name of mental health care for everybody in Chicago gave us incredible fruits. “It gives me a lot of peace to know that he was able to see and experience that win,” Rodriguez Sanchez said.
