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OAKLAND — Despite decades between them, Oakland High students connected with and listened intently to civil rights leader and former presidential candidate the Rev. Jesse Jackson, 77, when he spoke at their school Friday, telling them of the importance of education, perseverance and voting.

The peak of his speech before more than 200 students was when Jackson asked the students to stand up from their seats and repeat after him a poem based on “I am — Somebody” by Williams Holmes Borders Sr., a civil rights activist in the 1950s. Jackson has recited the poem — putting his own spin on it — during speeches since the early 1970s, and even gave the speech on his classic appearance on “Sesame Street” in 1971.

The students enthusiastically participated, shouting their responses as the crowd did when Jackson recited the poem during the Wattstax festival at the Los Angeles Coliseum in 1972 commemorating the Watts Riots of 1965.

“I am somebody, respect me, protect me, never neglect me,” Jackson said, and the students repeated the words. “If my mind can conceive it, then my heart can believe it. I know I can achieve it.”

Before Jackson’s speech in the theater, he spoke to a leadership class of about 20 students. Senior Siale Liku said Jackson’s visit inspired him to try harder and school and gave him a different perspective on how he makes choices.

“It made me think more about the decisions I can make about the wrong things that I see in life,” Liku said. “I know I can make changes not just for myself, but for the people all around me.”

Jackson took part in the Civil Rights Movement, working with the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. in the 1960s. Jackson was with King when he was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1968. Jackson has remained active in championing the rights of minorities and the disenfranchised.

Jackson started a nonprofit social justice organization called the Rainbow Push Coalition, which has a Bay Area chapter. The Bay Area executive director of that chapter, Butch Wing, coordinated the visit.

During both his Oakland speech and classroom visit, Jackson stressed the importance of students respecting their neighbors no matter their differences. He encouraged them to learn how to speak Spanish to be better neighbors to Latinos and talked about the importance of using education as a means to freedom.