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Rainbow/PUSH
"The Rev. Jesse Jackson speaks on a radio broadcast from the headquarters of Operation PUSH, at its annual convention." July 1973. Photograph by John H. White.
Formation	1971
Type	Civil rights
Headquarters	Chicago, Illinois
Location	United States
Official languages	English
President	Jesse Jackson
Website	www.rainbowpush.org

Rainbow/PUSH is non-profit organization formed as a merger of two non-profit organizations — Operation PUSH (People United To Save Humanity) and the National Rainbow Coalition — founded by Jesse Jackson. The organizations pursue social justice, civil rights and political activism.

In December 1971, Jackson resigned from Operation Breadbasket after clashing with Rev. Ralph Abernathy and founded Operation PUSH. Jackson founded the National Rainbow Coalition in 1984 which merged with PUSH in 1996. The combined organization keeps its national headquarters on the South Side of Chicago and has branches in Washington, D.C., New York City, Los Angeles, Detroit, Houston, Atlanta, the Silicon Valley, and New Orleans.

Operation PUSH was successful at raising public awareness to initiate corporate action and government sponsorship. The National Rainbow coalition became a prominent political organization that raised public awareness on numerous political issues and consolidated a large voting block. The merged entity has undertaken numerous social initiatives.

Contents 1 PUSH 2 National Rainbow Coalition 3 Merger 4 Notes 5 References 6 External links

Operation PUSH, an acronym for People United to Save (later Serve) Humanity, was an organization which advocated black self-help and achieved a broad audience for its liberal stances on issues of social justice and civil rights.^[1]

The origins of Operation PUSH can be traced to a factional split in Operation Breadbasket, an affiliate of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.^[2] In 1966, Martin Luther King Jr., the head of the SCLC, appointed Jackson to head the Chicago chapter of Operation Breadbasket.

After 1968, however, Jackson increasingly clashed with King's successor at SCLC, Rev. Ralph Abernathy. The break became complete in December 1971 when Abernathy suspended Jackson for “administrative improprieties and repeated acts of violation of organizational policy.” Jackson resigned from Operation Breadbasket, called together his allies, and Operation PUSH was born.

The organizational meeting of PUSH was in the Chicago home of Dr. T.R.M. Howard, a prominent black doctor and community leader on the South Side. Before he moved to Chicago in 1956, Howard had developed a national reputation as a Mississippi civil rights leader, surgeon, and entrepreneur. Howard served on PUSH's board of directors and chaired the finance committee.

Through PUSH Jackson was able to continue pursuit of the same economic objectives that Operation Breadbasket had pursued. In addition, his new organization was able to expand into areas of social and political development for blacks in Chicago and across the nation. The 1970s saw various tactics to pursue the organization's objectives including direct action campaigns, weekly radio broadcasts, and awards through which Jackson protected black homeowners, workers, and businesses, and honored prominent blacks in the U.S. and abroad. The organization also championed education through PUSH-Excel, a spin-off program that emphasized keeping inner-city youths in school and assisting them with job placement.^[3] The program, which persuaded inner city youth to pledge in writing to study two hours per night, impressed Jimmy Carter whose administration became a large sponsor.^[4]

The organization was very successful at committing major corporations with large presences in the black community to adopt affirmative action programs in which they hired more black executives and supervisors and to buy from black suppliers, wholesalers, and distributors.^[4]

The National Rainbow Coalition (Rainbow Coalition for short) was a political organization that grew out of Jesse Jackson's 1984 presidential campaign. During the campaign Jackson began speaking to a "Rainbow Coalition" of the disadvantaged and rejected voters from a broad spectrum of races and creeds.^[4] The goals of the campaign were to demand social programs, voting rights, and affirmative action for all groups that had been neglected by Reaganomics.^[3] Jackson's campaign blamed President Ronald Reagan's policies for reduction of government spending, causing new unemployment and encouraging economic investment outside of the inner cities, while they discouraged the rebuilding of urban industry. The industrial layoffs caused by these policies hit the black and other minority populations particularly hard.^[4] At the 1984 Democratic National Convention on July 18, 1984 in San Francisco, California, Jackson delivered the Keynote address, entitled "The Rainbow Coalition".^[5] The speech called for Arab Americans, Native Americans, Asian Americans, youth, disabled veterans, small farmers, lesbians and gays to join with African Americans and Jewish Americans for political purpose. Whereas the purpose of PUSH had been to fight for economic and educational opportunities, the Rainbow Coalition was created to address political empowerment and public policy issues.^[6] After his unsuccessful bid for the Democratic nomination in 1984, Jackson attempted to build the broad base of support among those affected by Reagan's policies (racial minorities, the poor, small farmers, working mothers, the unemployed, some labor union members, gays, and lesbians).^[4]

Jackson moved from Chicago to Washington, D.C. to serve as shadow senator from 1991 to 1996. When he returned to Chicago in 1996 he merged his organizations.^[7] The merged entity still endeavors for multiculturalism in which it advocates for African Americans, Hispanics, Native Americans, other minorities, and women. Its main economic goals include more minorities on the payrolls, in the boardrooms, and on the supplier lists of major corporations. The industries it is most aggressively pursuing increased inclusion in opportunities are financial sector on Wall Street, the telecommunications field and high-tech firms in Silicon Valley.^[6] The fight on Wall Street is organized by a special Wall Street Project, a lobbying organization for business and employment opportunities for minorities that also raised the collective conscientiousness among African American stockholders of their Wall Street influence.^[3] The organization has been active in pursuit of increase minority representation in other industries, most notably the broadcast media, the entertainment industry, and the automobile industry. It has also sought increased representation by minority administrators in college and professional sports.^[8] For hispanic issues the merged entity works closely with the League of United Latin American Citizens and the National Council of La Raza.^[6]

Among the more interesting social issues the organization has undertaken was its own investigations of the suspicious hanging death of Raynard Johnson in 2000. Johnson was found mysteriously hanged by a belt from the pecan tree in front of his home in Kokomo, Mississippi.^[3] The organization had also in 1998 admonished Freddie Mac for its lending and employment practices, which led to its pledge to earmark $1 billion in mortgage loans specifically for minorities, to donate more than $1 million directly to Rainbow/PUSH and to became a sponsor of Jackson's annual Wall Street Project.^[8] Its more recent battles with NASCAR, who it accuses of disproportionate underrepresentation of minority competitors on the racetracks led to "mandated sensitivity program" for NASCAR employees and a $250,000 transfer to Rainbow/PUSH.^[8] Among the smaller campaigns it has undertaken are the HIV/AIDS Initiative for funding for AIDS programs exclusively for minorities; the National Field Department support of constructive agitation to bring about societal change; and the Prison Outpost project, whose ultimate goal is "to eliminate the need for prisons."^[8]

Through his organization and its predecessors Jackson has advocated national health care, a war on drugs, direct peace negotiations between Palestinians and Israelis, ending apartheid in South Africa and advancing democracy in Haiti long before they became acceptable public policy positions.^[9] The following is the organization's list of major issues:^[8]

Jobs and Economic Empowerment

Employee Rights and Livable Wages

Educational Access

Fair and Decent Housing

Voter Registration and Civic Education

Election Law Reform

Fairness in the Media, Sports, and Criminal Justice System

Political Empowerment

Trade and Foreign Policy

Affirmative Action and Equal Rights

Gender Equality

Environmental Justice

Critics of the organization attribute its success to frivolous charges of racism, followed by public protests and threats of widespread boycotts.^[8] Former congressman Mel Reynolds, who served a sentence in prison for sexual assault and bank fraud, is among the controversial consultants on the organization's payroll.^[8] The organization is a member of several anti-war coalitions including Win Without War, United for Peace and Justice, and After Downing Street.^[8]

• David T. Beito and Linda Royster Beito. T.R.M. Howard M.D.: A Mississippi Doctor in Chicago Civil Rights, A.M.E. Church Review (July-September 2001), 50-59.

• Rainbow/Push Coalition