The Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr., who was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease eight years ago, is stepping down from the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition, the influential Chicago-based civil rights organization he founded through its predecessor, Operation PUSH, more than 50 years ago.
After ceding day-to-day operations last year, Jackson, 81, is formally handing the reins to his successor, the Rev. Frederick Douglass Haynes III, a senior pastor of friendship at West Baptist Church in Dallas. Haynes’ appointment is expected to be announced this weekend at the annual Rainbow/PUSH convention, sources said Friday.
“I’m not retiring at all,” Jackson said Friday. “I want to focus a lot more on economic justice, peace in the world. I’m just pivoting to a different platform.”
According to Jackson, pivoting means he will spend the majority of this time teaching about “how to fight the nonviolent fight” when it comes to injustice.
“I want to teach more, all what I’ve learned, to other preachers: How do you fight the nonviolent fight, focus on affirmative action, loan debt, focus on pulling gun shops down,” Jackson said.
Jackson will offer his guidance in academic settings as well as in the field. He said he will double efforts to get reparations for the three remaining survivors of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre. A lawsuit filed by survivors was recently dismissed by an Oklahoma judge.
Days after the Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr. announced he was stepping down as president of the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition, Vice President Kamala Harris came to the South Side Sunday to deliver a tribute to the longtime civil rights leader while warning that conservative “extremists” sought to undermine his legacy.
“In this moment, across our country, we are witnessing hard-fought, hard-won freedoms under full-on attack by extremist so-called leaders. And these extremists have an agenda, an agenda to divide us as a nation, an agenda to attack the importance of diversity and equity and inclusion and the unity of the Rainbow Coalition,” Harris said in a 20-minute speech.
“In this moment, let us all understand the history and the significance of Rev’s work and his approach. Just as Rev has shown, our ability to stand together is our strength,” she said, referring to Jackson by the colloquialism “Rev.” “Our ability to unify as many peoples is our strength. And the heroes of this moment will be those who bring us together in coalition.”
