A predominantly Black denomination, a faith-based civil rights group and the nation’s largest union have joined forces to fight systemic racism and voter suppression.
“We decided we’re stronger and better together and so today we thought it would be appropriate to announce a prophetic partnership between AFL-CIO, Rainbow Push Coalition and the Progressive National Baptist Convention,” newly installed PNBC President Keith W. Byrd Sr., said during the denomination’s 65th annual session last month.
Keith W. Byrd Sr.
He was joined by AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Fred Redmon and Yusef Jackson, president of the Rainbow PUSH Coalition and son of the late Civil Rights champion Jesse Jackson.
The new alliance will focus initially on addressing the racial and economic challenges associated with the midterm elections in November.
“We’re going to have to answer to generations after us what we did to build partnership and coalition to survive the deep nadir of this era,” Jackson said.
Yusef Jackson
“Let us work together to restore our rights and to build civil rights into a greater infrastructure than the one we inherited, because the one we inherited lasted 61 years, and that was a beautiful thing,” he said of the gains of the Civil Rights era. “But now it has been dismantled by the government and the Supreme Court, and so now, what will we do and how shall we respond?”
In 2013, the high court suspended a provision of the 1964 Voting Rights Act requiring local and state jurisdictions with histories of racial discrimination to obtain federal approval before making changes to elections rules.
The justices further eviscerated the law in an April ruling by eliminating its anti-discrimination provisions based on color, race or minority status. The decision cleared the way for rapid restricting efforts favoring white communities.
PNBC, which was co-founded by Martin Luther King Jr., and the AFL-CIO already have a history of working together. Declaring that fighting racism is pointless without also addressing economic injustice, the groups announced a partnership in 2022 aimed at advancing economic and racial justice initiatives.
But discussions are now under way between the denomination, Rainbow PUSH and the union about actions the expanded coalition must rapidly begin, Byrd said. “We’ve got to hit the ground running. We don’t have time to mess around. Everything is at stake.”
Fred Redmond
Among the initiatives will be “rallies in significant and strategic places across the country as we lead up to the midterms, where we can mobilize our voters, educate our voters and protect our voters,” he said.
The AFL-CIO is eager to partner with PNBC and Rainbow PUSH to protect the jobs and voting rights of Black Americans, Redmond said.
“Imagine what we could do for God’s people if we were to work together, if we were to bring a message delivered by Jesus Christ that we have an obligation to look out for the least of God’s people,” he said. “It is my hope that we could come together with Rainbow PUSH and with PNBC to do some great work starting with this midterm election.”
Getting out the vote is among the first objective because the election ties in with the other threats facing Black Americans, Jackson added. “It is culturally mature for us to vote not just for the sake of voting, but to vote our economic interests. When we’re voting, we’re voting about fair wages, we’re voting about dignity, we’re voting about jobs.”