Jesse Jackson resigns as head of civil rights group Rainbow Push

CHICAGO (AP) – Reverend Jesse Jackson will step down as leader of the Rainbow Push Coalition, a Chicago civil rights group he founded in 1971, his son’s congressional office announced Friday.

A spokesman for US Congressman Jonathan Jackson confirmed the longtime civil rights leader is retiring from the organization.

Jackson, a civil rights leader and two-time presidential candidate elder, will announce his plans during the organization’s annual convention on Sunday, Rep. Jackson said in Chicago. told the Sun-Times.

Illinois Democrat Jonathan Jackson said his father “was forever on the scene for justice and never stopped fighting for civil rights,” which would be “his mark in history.” .

Pastor Jesse Jackson, who turns 82 in October, has been active in civil rights activism in recent years despite health challenges.

In 2017, he announced that he had started outpatient treatment for Parkinson’s disease two years ago. He underwent gallbladder surgery in early 2021 and underwent COVID-19 treatment later in the year, including a stay at a physical therapy-focused facility.

A disciple of the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr., Jackson left the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in 1971 to form a broader civil rights organization, Operation Push (originally called People), based on Chicago’s South Side. Formed United to Save Humanity.

The organization, later renamed the Rainbow PUSH Coalition, had a wide range of missions, from encouraging corporate employment of minorities to promoting voter registration in communities of color. The annual convention will be held in Chicago this weekend.