Our Time Has Come: Jesse Jackson and the Rainbow Coalition

What Happened?

By the time Jesse Jackson stepped onto the stage in San Francisco, he had already made history. As the first Black candidate to be taken seriously in a major party’s presidential primary since Shirley Chisholm in 1972, Jackson brought with him not just a campaign, but a movement. His 'Rainbow Coalition' was a call to the hungry, the homeless, the jobless, the young, the old, and all those cast to the margins of American power.

Jackson’s speech wove together policy demands and moral appeals. He called out the deepening divide between rich and poor, the militarization of U.S. policy, and the moral bankruptcy of Reagan-era economics. But it wasn’t just critique—it was construction. He spoke of America as a quilt, not a blanket: stitched together from many colors, textures, and lives, all held by common thread. He pledged solidarity with Native Americans, LGBTQ Americans, Asian Americans, farm workers, the disabled, and more. His coalition made room where history had shut doors.

The speech echoed the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., whose vision Jackson carried forward. But it also stood as its own milestone in the evolution of progressive politics. Despite backlash—including from within his own party—Jackson remained steadfast in calling for not just representation, but transformation.

He didn’t win the nomination. Walter Mondale did—and lost to Ronald Reagan in a landslide. But Jackson’s message outlasted the moment. His 1984 campaign laid groundwork for a broader, bolder Democratic Party. His 1988 run drew nearly 7 million votes. And the coalitional politics he modeled—intersectional, grassroots, unapologetically moral—would ripple through the generations to come.

Why It Matters

Jackson’s 1984 speech wasn’t just a milestone—it was a mirror. It reflected the America that had long been excluded from power and demanded they be seen. It laid the groundwork for coalitional politics that centered not just identity, but justice. And it dared a country to believe that leadership could look—and sound—like everyone. Our time has come, he said. For many, that moment is still unfolding.