National Rainbow Coalition

Introduced in 1984 by social and political activist Jesse Jackson, the National Rainbow Coalition (NRC), based in Washington, D.C., was established as “a progressive, Black-led, multiracial, anti-corporate, and anti-imperialist movement that took an electoral form.” As such, it became an informal subgroup within the Democratic Party that served as the vehicle of Jackson's 1984 and 1988 voter registration drives and presidential bids.

In 1983, during a climate of disenfranchisement of the politically underrepresented in the United States, Jackson formed a “rainbow coalition” to encourage millions of potential voters to register for and participate in the upcoming 1984 presidential election. As a result, he formally created the National Rainbow Coalition, which reached out to Blacks, Hispanics, Asian Americans, American Indians, homosexuals, poor Whites, females, those with family-run farms, and those living in poverty. The effort was both a success and a failure.

Despite the acquisition of parity for minorities gained with the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, during that time there existed only a handful of organizations that represented the national political interests of Blacks, among them the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and the Congressional Black Caucus. In 1972, the meeting of the National Black Political Convention discussed the formation of an independent political party; also during that year, Black con-gresswoman Shirley Chisholm ran for president. By 1984, a group of political leaders called the “Black Leadership Family” were again considering the pros [Page 940]and cons of affirming another Black presidential candidate. The advantages included national exposure to Black issues and encouraging voter registration in order to build a voting bloc within the Democratic Party; the main disadvantage was seen as the potential splintering of the party down racial lines. Present at the convention was Jackson, who made it clear that he was considering running with or without the group's endorsement; later that year, Jackson announced his candidacy on national television.

As an instrument for voter registration, Jackson's 1984 efforts were successful in accounting for 1 million new Black voters. In fact, during the primary elections, the increased voter turnout was considerable; the most notable was in New York State, where the Black vote increased by over 125%. Even more impressive, during his 1988 campaign, Jackson's candidacy encouraged an additional 2 million Blacks to register.

What proved most daunting to Jackson was the challenge of actually building a national “rainbow” coalition. First, even though he had recently gained prominence by securing the release of a U.S. serviceman from a Syrian jail as a “civilian diplomat,” Jackson's lack of national alliances and political experience led some political leaders and the media not to take his candidacy seriously. Second, while the rhetoric of creating a rainbow coalition sounded plausible, Jackson found that his potential constituents were often competing for national attention and for the same scarce social, political, and economic resources. Issues such as housing, poverty, unemployment, wages, bilingual education, desegregation, immigration, affirmative action, welfare, and care for the elderly, when positioned on a race-neutral platform, actually weakened, rather than strengthened, the possibility of coalition building. Moreover, Jackson alienated two groups that might otherwise have joined his coalition: the Jewish community (whom he referred to as “Hymies” in a newspaper interview) and women's groups (who disagreed sharply with his 1972 antiabortion stance). Finally, Jackson may have underestimated the pervasive racism in the United States. In a 1988 poll, 25% of Whites said that they would automatically vote against any Black candidate; and while 85% and 95% of Blacks voted for Jackson in the 1984 and 1988 primaries, respectively, only 10% and 20% of Whites voted for him during those same two elections.

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