Jesse Jackson Calls for Black & Brown Unity, Launches Coalition

Rev. Jesse Jackson and Latino Immigration activists have announced the joint launch of a "black-brown coalition" to push for Immigration reform, school safety and other issues, reports the Chicago Tribune.      

The announcement was made Saturday inside Jackson's Rainbow-PUSH headquarters on Chicago's South Side. The group used the 40th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination to call for greater unity between the two communities and put aside racial tensions.      

"How do you honor Dr. King's legacy 40 years later?" Jackson asked. "We go to schools together, we work in hospitals together, we vote together, we raise our youth together. So we must learn to live together."      

The first order of business will come May 1, when activists will again take to the streets to call for legalizing the country's 12 million undocumented immigrants.      

Organizers have been strategizing for weeks inside PUSH headquarters, which has a Latino chapter, to boost African-American interest in the march. Plans include radio interviews and announcements during church services and union meetings.       

PUSH also recently launched Spanish classes. [MORE]