Rainbow Coalition

In the whitewashed basement of a church in Annapolis, the Rev. Jesse L. Jackson rallied his supporters last night to rebuild the Maryland Rainbow Coalition.The day after he withdrew from the race to succeed the Rev. Benjamin L. Hooks as head of the NAACP, Mr. Jackson made it clear that he had not lost stature as a powerful leader.His hourlong speech on racism in professional sports was interrupted numerous times by applause and shouts of approval from a crowd of more than 60 at Mount Olive African Methodist Episcopal Church in Maryland's capital.

Performing at a big benefit concert is usually perceived as enlightened self-interest. Neil Young, who has an autistic child, organized the Bridge Concerts to raise money for the Bridge School, which treats such children. Adam Yauch of the Beastie Boys is a Buddhist, so he helped organize the Tibetan Freedom Concerts. Because Sting is big on environmental activism, he's a regular part of the annual rain forest benefit concerts. So it's not surprising that Melissa Etheridge was the first artist brought on board for Equality Rocks, the gay and lesbian rights concert being held at Washington's RFK Stadium today.

In the whitewashed basement of a church in Annapolis, the Rev. Jesse L. Jackson rallied his supporters last night to rebuild the Maryland Rainbow Coalition.The day after he withdrew from the race to succeed the Rev. Benjamin L. Hooks as head of the NAACP, Mr. Jackson made it clear that he had not lost stature as a powerful leader.His hour-long speech on racism in professional sports was interrupted numerous times by applause and shouts of approval from a crowd of more than 60 at Mount Olive African Methodist Episcopal Church in Maryland's capital.

SINCE the introduction of television, the captains of that medium have had a problem with it portrayal of nonwhites. Popular television at its inception dealt with us the same way its cousin, the movies, did, by repeating the racist stereotypes, from Stepin Fetchit to "Amos 'n Andy" and the Africans in Tarzan movies. The image sent around the world of Native Americans was of wild savages scalping innocent whites, a reputation that survives today in many places. A new biography of Nat King Cole details how one of the most popular singers of his day was treated horribly by TV moguls.

WASHINGTON -- The Rev. Jesse L. Jackson has been discussing with associates whether he should withdraw from the race for executive director of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, several associates said yesterday.Mr. Jackson is one of four contenders for the post as the head of the nation's oldest and largest civil rights organization. But associates said he was uncertain whether he should remain in the running for a post he might not get. Some NAACP members have objected to his candidacy, saying his highly personalized style would hurt the organization; others say he would bring new luster to the NAACP.

COLLEGE PARK -- The Rev. Jesse L. Jackson recalled that Michael Schwerner, Andrew Goodman and James Chaney were slain in Philadelphia, Miss., 28 years ago when they organized voter registration drives for the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee.Yesterday, on the the last day to register to vote in Maryland's March 3 primary election, Mr. Jackson told students that the martyrdom of the two white New Yorkers and the black Mississippian was only a beginning -- today's students must take advantage of their voting rights.

LET ME GET this straight. Bill Clinton goes before the Rainbow Coalition and denounces Sister Souljah (who was invited to speak to it) for advocating that blacks murder whites, ,, and Jesse Jackson criticized Clinton?Jackson, who personalizes everything, says Clinton embarrassed him. He also subtly threatened Clinton politically: "I must now know if, in fact, he wants the support of the Rainbow Coalition."Clinton shouldn't. Look what it did for Walter Mondale and Michael Dukakis. In order to get the coalition they had to take Jackson, and that meant sharing the spotlight with him. It was too much.

WASHINGTON -- The Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, speaking for an array of civil rights and women's groups, unleashed a counterattack yesterday against those determined to end affirmative action in the United States.He made it clear who his target was."The new Republican congressional majority is using affirmative action to divide our nation for political gain," he said.Mr. Jackson, leader of the National Rainbow Coalition and a possible presidential candidate next year, urged President Clinton to show "bold and fearless leadership" on behalf of the movement set in motion some 40 years ago by "white judges" to lift the burden of social and economic inequities from the backs of minorities, and later women.

While Democratic presidential candidate Bill Clinton was picking up $50,000 last night at a garden party down the street from her house in Guilford, Laura Young waited with her friends, a few of their parents and many of the neighborhood's poodles, dachshunds, bulldogs and mutts.The Arkansas governor met with supporters in the Lambeth Road home of Larry Gibson, chairman of the Clinton campaign in Maryland and chief political aide to Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke.Outside, 7 1/2 -year-old Laura played on the carefully clipped lawns of this lushly landscaped enclave of brick, stone and stucco houses.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- Rainbow Coalition leader the Rev. Jesse Jackson met with members of the Orioles and St. Louis Cardinals after yesterday's game to brief them on the civil rights group's efforts for affirmative action in baseball.Jackson, who is touring major-league camps, did not go into specifics of his message, but said any action taken by the group would be dictated by reports it gets from baseball within the next 10 days."We want to see what their plans are," Jackson said when asked about the group's plans for possible Opening Day boycotts.

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."

WASHINGTON -- The Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, speaking for an array of civil rights and women's groups, unleashed a counterattack yesterday against those determined to end affirmative action in the United States.He made it clear who his target was."The new Republican congressional majority is using affirmative action to divide our nation for political gain," he said.Mr. Jackson, leader of the National Rainbow Coalition and a possible presidential candidate next year, urged President Clinton to show "bold and fearless leadership" on behalf of the movement set in motion some 40 years ago by "white judges" to lift the burden of social and economic inequities from the backs of minorities, and later women.

WASHINGTON -- Baltimore Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke cut against the grain of a group of black leaders at a summit on violence yesterday, supporting the Clinton administration's anti-crime package that the others denounced."

In the whitewashed basement of a church in Annapolis, the Rev. Jesse L. Jackson rallied his supporters last night to rebuild the Maryland Rainbow Coalition.The day after he withdrew from the race to succeed the Rev. Benjamin L. Hooks as head of the NAACP, Mr. Jackson made it clear that he had not lost stature as a powerful leader.His hour-long speech on racism in professional sports was interrupted numerous times by applause and shouts of approval from a crowd of more than 60 at Mount Olive African Methodist Episcopal Church in Maryland's capital.

In the whitewashed basement of a church in Annapolis, the Rev. Jesse L. Jackson rallied his supporters last night to rebuild the Maryland Rainbow Coalition.The day after he withdrew from the race to succeed the Rev. Benjamin L. Hooks as head of the NAACP, Mr. Jackson made it clear that he had not lost stature as a powerful leader.His hourlong speech on racism in professional sports was interrupted numerous times by applause and shouts of approval from a crowd of more than 60 at Mount Olive African Methodist Episcopal Church in Maryland's capital.

WASHINGTON -- The Rev. Jesse Jackson's decision t withdraw from the running for the job of executive director of the NAACP is in keeping with his insistence always on full control in anything he does.The NAACP board's talk of limiting the powers of the job was, in effect, an open invitation to him to step aside and he took it.The presence of Jackson on the short list for the job seemed a contradiction from the start. Although Jackson now runs the organization of which he was the founder, the Rainbow Coalition, he remains essentially a one-man show and the Rainbow remains his personal vehicle, whereas the 500,000-member NAACP is renowned as a team organization.

WASHINGTON -- The Rev. Jesse Jackson's decision t withdraw from the running for the job of executive director of the NAACP is in keeping with his insistence always on full control in anything he does.The NAACP board's talk of limiting the powers of the job was, in effect, an open invitation to him to step aside and he took it.The presence of Jackson on the short list for the job seemed a contradiction from the start. Although Jackson now runs the organization of which he was the founder, the Rainbow Coalition, he remains essentially a one-man show and the Rainbow remains his personal vehicle, whereas the 500,000-member NAACP is renowned as a team organization.

WASHINGTON -- Baltimore Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke cut against the grain of a group of black leaders at a summit on violence yesterday, supporting the Clinton administration's anti-crime package that the others denounced."

WASHINGTON -- The Rev. Jesse L. Jackson has been discussing with associates whether he should withdraw from the race for executive director of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, several associates said yesterday.Mr. Jackson is one of four contenders for the post as the head of the nation's oldest and largest civil rights organization. But associates said he was uncertain whether he should remain in the running for a post he might not get. Some NAACP members have objected to his candidacy, saying his highly personalized style would hurt the organization; others say he would bring new luster to the NAACP.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- Rainbow Coalition leader the Rev. Jesse Jackson met with members of the Orioles and St. Louis Cardinals after yesterday's game to brief them on the civil rights group's efforts for affirmative action in baseball.Jackson, who is touring major-league camps, did not go into specifics of his message, but said any action taken by the group would be dictated by reports it gets from baseball within the next 10 days."We want to see what their plans are," Jackson said when asked about the group's plans for possible Opening Day boycotts.