Rainbow PUSH Coalition Resolves in its 56th Annual Convention to Continue It's Fight for Racial, Gender, Social, Economic and Political Justice

June 24, 2022

RAINBOW PUSH COALITION RESOLVES IN ITS 56th ANNUAL CONVENTION TO CONTINUE ITS FIGHT FOR
RACIAL, GENDER, SOCIAL, ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL JUSTICE
Statement by Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, Sr.
The following are the Rainbow PUSH Coalition 2022 resolutions:

 

  1. Our very democracy is at stake and the vote is fundamental to democracy. Minority rules are leading to white minority rule and must be ended—the Electoral college for the White House; the filibuster in the U.S. Senate; the gerrymander in the House; and voter suppression in the states. All are race based and must be ended. We resolve to fight to pass the “For The People Act” and the “John Lewis Voting Rights Amendment Act” in order to guarantee protection for the right to vote. In addition, we must fight to add a right to vote amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The ultimate irony in the so-called world center of democracy is that since the Heller decision Americans have the fundamental individual right to a gun in the Constitution but not the fundamental individual right to vote in the Constitution. You know that’s crazy.
  2. We resolve to fight for universal health care for all Americans, especially full health care for women, including access to legal abortions. The Hyde amendment should be eliminated because if abortion is legal for everyone, it should be accessible to everyone and equal protection under the law should not be denied because one is poor or in the military.
  3. We resolve to continue our strong association and coalition with labor as the most effective organized effort to offset financial and business power in order to build a strong labor movement that will result in a strong middle class.
  4. We resolve to fight for two years of free community college or vocational education.
  5. We resolve to fight for new markets in housing and community development. Americans are facing a homeless crisis and an affordable housing crisis. We must fight to end homelessness and provide enough affordable, safe, and sanitary housing to meet the needs of all Americans.
  6. We resolve to continue our efforts to understand the new market opportunities in the sports industry. There are many more business and job opportunities off the playing fields and courts than there are on them.
  7. We resolve to continue our fight for reparations. We don’t know what all reparations may entail, that’s why we support H.R. 40 to study the problem in depth, but the problem of race and racial disparities in political representation, education, health care, housing, criminal justice and more have never been fixed and they must be fixed to achieve justice in America and build a more perfect Union.
  8. We resolve to fight to end the hate, fear and violence that’s leading to the false conclusion that assault weapons are what’s needed to provide safety. We support a federal buy-back program to begin to remove military assault weapons from American communities. Assault weapons are a danger to life and limb.
  9. We resolve to continue our fight for criminal justice reform. When a person has served their time and paid their dues to society for the mistake they made or the criminal act they committed, they should be made whole in terms of voting, job training and job opportunities, education, health care and more. They must be made full citizens again.
  10. We resolve to defend affirmative action as a conservative approach to providing equal opportunity in jobs, promotions, greater educational and more business opportunities, racial and gender progress, and equity for people of color and women.
  11. We have been exposed to new financial opportunities and we intend to take advantage of them and educate our community to these new opportunities. For example, we were told of a new financial opportunity with Dream Exchange that will fund creative business ideas for the future. For the first time in history, there will be an independent African American stock exchange that we will be fighting for Congress and the SEC to approve by 2023.
  12. We resolve to continue to fight for an international connection with Africa for new business opportunities. There are not only opportunities in oil, gas, and natural resources, but also in the areas of telecommunications, technology, entertainment, construction, financial services, and tourism with various countries in Africa.
  13. We resolve to continue to develop and encourage faith leaders to take their faith outside the walls of their congregations to meet the needs of those most in need. That means developing power in communities of color and in communities most in need. We have a particular concern for Haiti the poorest country in our hemisphere.
  14. We resolve to continue to reach out and to challenge our youth in the Hip-Hop generation to not only express themselves musically and as entertainers but see the new markets available to them in the business of Hip-Hop.

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Rainbow PUSH Coalition is a multi-racial, multi-issue, progressive, international organization that was formed in December 1996 by the Reverend Jesse L. Jackson, Sr. through merging of two organizations he founded Operation PUSH People United to Serve Humanity (estab. 1971) and the Rainbow Coalition (estab. 1984). With headquarters in Chicago and offices in Washington, D.C., Atlanta, Detroit, Houston, Los Angeles, New York and Oakland, the organization works to make the American Dream a reality for all citizens while advocating for peace and justice around the world. RPC is dedicated to improving the lives of all people by serving as a voice for the voiceless. Its mission is to protect, defend and gain civil rights by leveling the economic and educational playing fields while promoting peace and justice around the world.