Editing Rainbow/PUSH (section)

== National Rainbow Coalition ==
[[File:Jesse Jackson, half-length portrait of Jackson seated at a table, July 1, 1983 edit.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Jesse Jackson]] was a presidential candidate in both [[1984 United States presidential election|1984]] and [[1988 United States presidential election|1988]].]]
The National Rainbow Coalition (Rainbow Coalition for short) was a political organization that grew out of Jesse Jackson's [[1984 United States presidential election|1984 presidential campaign]]. During the campaign, Jackson began speaking about a "Rainbow Coalition", an idea created by [[Fred Hampton]], regarding the disadvantaged and welcomed voters from a broad spectrum of races and creeds.<ref name=ME /> The goals of the campaign were to demand social programs, [[voting rights]], and [[affirmative action]] for all groups that had been neglected by [[Reaganomics]].<ref name=GCL />

Jackson's campaign blamed President [[Ronald Reagan]]'s policies for reduction of government domestic spending, causing new unemployment and encouraging economic investment outside of the inner cities, while they discouraged the rebuilding of urban industry. The industrial layoffs caused by these policies hit the Black and other minority populations particularly hard.<ref name=ME />

At the [[1984 Democratic National Convention]] on July 18, 1984, in [[San Francisco, California]], Jackson delivered an address entitled "The Rainbow Coalition".  The speech called for [[Arab American]]s, [[Native Americans in the United States|Native Americans]], [[Asian American]]s, youth, [[disabled]] [[veteran]]s, small [[Agriculture in the United States|farmers]], [[lesbian]]s and [[gay]]s to join with [[African American]]s and [[Jewish American]]s for political purpose. Whereas the purpose of PUSH had been to fight for economic and educational opportunities, the Rainbow Coalition was created to address [[political empowerment]] and [[public policy]] issues.<ref name=HB>{{cite web|url=http://www.hispanicbusiness.com/news/newsbyid.asp?id=2076&cat=Magazine&more=/magazine/|title=Jesse Jackson's Rainbow/PUSH Reaches Hispanics|access-date=September 7, 2007|date=November 2, 2000|publisher=Hispanic Business Inc.|work=HispanicBusiness.com|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930015931/http://www.hispanicbusiness.com/news/newsbyid.asp?id=2076&cat=Magazine&more=%2Fmagazine%2F|archive-date=September 30, 2007|df=mdy-all}}</ref>

After his unsuccessful bid for the Democratic nomination in 1984, Jackson attempted to build a broad base of support among groups that "were hurt by Reagan administration policies" - racial minorities, the poor, small farmers, working mothers, the unemployed, some labor union members, gays, and lesbians.<ref name=ME />