Rainbow/PUSH - Merger

Merger

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. The merged entity advocates for African Americans, Hispanics, Native Americans, other minorities, and women. Its main economic goal is to have more minorities on the payrolls, in the boardrooms, and on the supplier lists of major corporations. The industries it most aggressively pursues are the financial sector on Wall Street, the telecommunications field and high-tech firms in Silicon Valley. The Wall Street activities are organized under sub-organization "The Wall Street Project". 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 under the leadership of Jesse Jackson, Jr. For Hispanic issues the merged entity works closely with the League of United Latin American Citizens and the National Council of La Raza.

In 1998 the organization 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. In 2000, the organization investigated the case of Raynard Johnson, who was found hanged by a belt from a tree in front of his home in Kokomo, Mississippi. Jackson labelled it a "lynching", although two autopsies both concluded that the death was a suicide. In the early 2000s (decade), Rainbow/PUSH worked with NASCAR to increase the number of minorities involved in auto racing, through direct financial support and projects to find talented African-American racing drivers. This initiative was ended in 2003, after the racing sanctioning body was criticized by conservative groups for the partnership. Among the smaller campaigns it has undertaken are the HIV/AIDS Initiative for funding for AIDS programs; 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."

Through his organization and its predecessors Jackson has advocated universal health care, a war on drugs, direct peace negotiations between Palestinians and Israelis, ending apartheid in South Africa and advancing democracy in Haiti. The following is the organization's list of major issues:

• 1% Student Loans
• 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

Former congressman Mel Reynolds, who served a sentence in prison for sexual assault and bank fraud, was hired by Rainbow/PUSH as its resident scholar on prison reform after his release in 2001. The organization is a member of several anti-war coalitions including Win Without War, United for Peace and Justice, and After Downing Street.