Pistons great Isiah Thomas has never been shy when making his points.
As one of several high-profile speakers at the funeral for Rev. Jesse Jackson in Chicago on Friday, Thomas mentioned the “five” former presidents in attendance. It wasn’t a slip of Thomas’ tongue.
Thomas went on to call them “President Harris” and President Clinton,” drawing a standing ovation from the crowd, as well as smiles and laughter from former vice president Kamala Harris and former secretary of state Hillary Clinton, seated next to one other in the front pew.
Both, of course, lost their bid for the presidency to the same man, President Donald Trump.
Pistons great Isiah Thomas wipes a tear as he speaks at the funeral for Jesse Jackson in Chicago on Friday.
Also in attendance were former presidents Bill Clinton, Barack Obama and Joe Biden, each of whom also spoke at the service, as did Harris. Trump was not in attendance.
Thomas spoke for more than 15 minutes, fighting back tears. He called Jackson, “Our Chicago Nelson Mandela.”
“We thank you for the courage, we thank you for the faith, we thank you for believing in us,” Thomas said. “He had a way of connecting personally with us … when he said, ‘Keep hope alive.’
“For us and all of you here from Chicago know in the ’60s, we felt like there was no hope, hope was lost, hope was gone. This man gave us hope, gave us life, gave us energy.”
Thomas, 64, was born and raised in Chicago and played collegiately at Indiana, before going on to a Hall-of-Fame career with the Pistons, with whom he won two NBA championships.
Jackson, the civil rights champion who himself made two long-shot bids for the presidency in the 1980s, even winning the Democrat primary in Michigan in 1988, died Feb. 17 at the age of 84.
A crowd of thousands attended the public funeral Friday at House of Hope on the south side of Chicago, where the ceremony lasted more than five hours.
A private ceremony is scheduled for Saturday, and Motown music legend Stevie Wonder is expected to perform.
tpaul@detroitnews.com
@tonypaul1984
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: At Jesse Jackson’s funeral, Pistons legend calls Harris, Hillary ‘presidents’