Rev. Jesse Jackson stepping down as head of Rainbow/PUSH Coalition
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Rev. Jesse Jackson will be stepping down as president of the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition, the civil rights group he founded.
His resignation comes as Rainbow/PUSH prepares to host their annual international convention this weekend.
Jackson created the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition in 1996 as a merger of Operation PUSH and the National Rainbow Coalition, two nonprofit organizations he founded in 1971 and 1984, respectively.
Operation PUSH grew out of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference's Operation Breadbasket, a coalition of Black ministers and businessmen founded by Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in 1962. King appointed Jackson to serve as Operation Breadbasket's first director in Chicago.
Jackson created Operation PUSH in 1971 in an effort to improve the economic and political lives of Black Americans.
"We've been o the frontlines in Vieques, fighting for women with cancer on the island," said Wanda Wright, who's been a member of Rainbow PUSH Coalition for more than a decade. "We've been in the picket lines, in the snow and the rain and the ice. You'd be surprised that people think, not doing anything when he's responsible for so many of the advancements that African Americans and Latinos and anybody of color."
The praise for Jackson came in from other notable figures like Mayor Brandon Johnson, who called the reverend "a mentor and a friend."
Jackson went on to found the National Rainbow Coalition in 1984, after his first run for president. The group was formed to seek equal rights for all Americans, and to demand social programs, voting rights, and affirmative action for minorities left out by "Reaganomics," according to the Rainbow/PUSH website.
The two nonprofits merged in 1996 with Jackson at the helm.
In 2017, Jackson was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease. Now 81, Jackson on Friday celebrated the 35th anniversary of his 1988 run for president.
Many in the room wore nostalgic campaign buttons and spoke of the hope Jackson provided during that unsuccessful, but historic, campaign.
"He's dedicated his life to serving and empowering the disenfranchised," said one woman.
"Rev. Jackson created hope in a community that needs hope," another man said.
Bishop Tavis Grant, of the Rainbow PUSH Coalition, reacted to the news of Jackson stepping down.
"All of us were quite in shock, but excited and enthusiastic that he would take the lead and have a sense of self-determination," Grant said.
While Jackson is stepping aside, he's leaving behind a legacy internationally, but especially in Chicago.
"We know that Rev. Jackson is not stepping down as much as he is stepping aside," said Wright. "He will be able to get up on that stage and tell us what he's got planned and tell us a little bit more of what the future of Rainbow PUSH Coalition is going to do."
According to the Chicago Crusader, Jackson will choose his replacement as head of Rainbow/PUSH in the next few weeks.
