DALLAS — For the first time since its inception in 1971, the Rainbow PUSH Coalition has a new leader, a well-known name in North Texas.
Rev. Frederick Haynes III is taking over the civil rights organization after being tapped personally by the group’s founder and previous President, Rev. Jesse Jackson.
Haynes said his leadership will be more of the same with a focus on economic justice, voting rights and educational equity.
And just like you frequently saw Jackson first on the scene during a time of crisis or injustice, the senior pastor at Friendship-West Baptist Church in Dallas says you’ll now see his face as the “first responder.”
“That is going to continue, bringing moral authority to situations where people are hurting because of injustice. And bringing healing to that space. At the same time, challenging those perpetrators of injustice,” Haynes told us on Inside Texas Politics. “So, that’s what Rainbow Push has been doing. We’ll do it now in the 21st century in a way that reflects both the technology, as well as the needs of this current age.”
Haynes says conversations about him possibly taking over the organization began back in 2019, when Jackson first asked if he would consider it.
Those off-and-on again conversations continued until April of this year, when he says Jackson really started to put the pressure on.
And Haynes uses the word pressure deliberately.
While in the end the Dallas pastor says it was easy to yes, he was hesitant at first.
And for good reason.
“First of all, Jessie Jackson is iconic. He’s a living legend. He has done phenomenal work that has literally changed the world. And so, given that, one would be less than sane to not feel some hesitancy. And so, without question I did have my reservations,” the pastor told us.
The Rainbow PUSH Coalition headquarters will remain in Chicago. But you won’t see any less of Rev. Haynes at Friendship-West, where he’ll continue to lead sermons on Sundays.
Using an airline analogy, he says Dallas should now be considered a main hub of the HQ in Chicago, as Friendship-West was doing much of the same work anyways. And the Dallas church, he says, is celebrating because of the larger platform Rainbow PUSH provides.
And Haynes said he hopes that now that they’re in Dallas, the scope of Rainbow PUSH – and the mission of justice – will expand in the south.
“Reverend Jackson was insistent that I stay at the church because, in his words, the church is a base of operation for all the Rainbow PUSH has always done so why would I leave the base?” said Haynes.