CHICAGO -- The Rev Jesse L. Jackson, surrounded by representatives of national civil rights and social justice organizations, opened the annual conference of the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition yesterday with the promise to weld those organizations into a force capable of "setting the agenda" for the next presidential election.
"We need to weave these strips into a basket," Jackson said.
The show of force included Patricia Ireland, president of the National Organization for Women; Rick Dovalina, president of the League of United Latin American Citizens; Rabbi Steven Jacobs, a representative of the Central Conference of American Rabbis; Martin Luther King III, president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference; and Kweisi Mfume, president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.
