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SCREEN CAPTURE / ABC Jesse Jackson held a rally in San Francisco's Chinatown bringing Asian Americans into the Rainbow Coalition. |
OPINION
One of the highlights of my career as a journalist was covering the 1984 Democratic Convention in San Francisco and getting inspired by the big-name speakers of which Jesse Jackson stood out. For those of us in the Asian American community, Jackson’s "Rainbow Coalition" wasn't just a catchy campaign slogan—it was a radical invitation to finally take a seat at the political table.
Civil rights activist Jackson campaigned for the Presidential nomination of the Democratic Party. The nomination went to Vice President Walter Mondale who eventually lost to Ronald Reagan in a landslide.
Reporting for the Philippine News during those high-stakes days at the Moscone Center felt like a watershed moment. For the first time, our Filipino American news outlet wasn't stuck behind a rope line or treated as an afterthought — we were credentialed and respected alongside the mainstream giants. It was a tangible shift in how our community's voice was valued in the national arena.
Jackson’s Rainbow Coalition rhetoric that year was a jolt to the system. He didn’t just mention "yellow" alongside "black, brown, and white" for the sake of a rhyme; he dug into the raw nerves of our history. From the convention stage, he bridged the gap between the Black civil rights struggle and our own, decrying the Chinese Exclusion Act and the Rock Springs Massacre where 28 Chinese miners were killed, as part of a shared American legacy of exclusion.
Prior to the 1984 convention Jackson held a landmark rally at Portsmouth Square, the heart of San Francisco's Chinatown, to champion his Rainbow Coalition and forge a historic Black and Asian alliance.
At a time when civil rights were often framed solely as a Black-White issue, Jackson's presence in Chinatown acknowledged Asian Americans as a significant political force. He was introduced at the event by local activists like Eddie Wong and Mabel Teng. A month later, Teng later introduced Jackson at the DNC, becoming the first Asian American to introduce a major candiate at a national political convention.
At a time when civil rights were often framed solely as a Black-White issue, Jackson's presence in Chinatown acknowledged Asian Americans as a significant political force. He was introduced at the event by local activists like Eddie Wong and Mabel Teng. A month later, Teng later introduced Jackson at the DNC, becoming the first Asian American to introduce a major candiate at a national political convention.
“The Rainbow Coalition includes Asian Americans, now being killed in our streets — scapegoats for the failures of corporate, industrial, and economic policies,” said Jackson from the DNC stage.
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| Jesse Jackson's Rainbow Coalition transformed the Democratic Party. |
He argued that under Reagan-era policies, immigrant and minority communities were unfairly blamed for domestic economic decline while being denied the benefits of national prosperity. (It is the same racist GOP playbook used by Donald Trump.)
Perhaps most powerful was how Jackson personalized the Asian American experience. He brought Lily Chin — the mother of Vincent Chin, who was murdered in Detroit by disgruntled autoworkers who thought he was Japanese — into the national spotlight, drawing a straight line from her son's murder to the lynching of Emmett Till. He saw us not as a "model minority," but as fellow "scapegoats" of failing economic policies.
Jackson's advocacy also extended to long-overdue justice for Japanese Americans. Long before the Civil Liberties Act of 1988 finally authorized reparations, Jackson was using his platform to demand redress for the families who had been stripped of their rights and dignity in US concentration camps during WWII.
Jackson was a frequent critic of the Marcos dictatorship before and after the Democratic convention.
He formally pledged his support for the democratic movement in the Philippines and called for the end of the Marcos dictatorship. His opposition was most prominent during the final years of the Marcos administration:
He formally pledged his support for the democratic movement in the Philippines and called for the end of the Marcos dictatorship. His opposition was most prominent during the final years of the Marcos administration:
In February 1986, as the "People Power" Revolution began in the Philippines, Jackson met with a coalition of Filipino groups in Los Angeles to pledge his support for the rebellion against Marcos.
During that L.A. meeting in 1986, Jackson publicly called on President Ronald Reagan to provide a plane for Marcos to leave the Philippines, effectively advocating for his removal from power.
Jackson's approach transformed the language of justice into a framework that allowed Filipino Americans to advocate for themselves as a distinct and essential "patch" in the American quilt, rather than a separate or invisible community.
That 1984 convention also gave us a moment of pure representation:
Mabel Teng making history as the first Asian American woman to introduce a presidential candidate on a national stage. Jackson's Rainbow Coalition transformed the Democratic Party which, from tha point on, became the party advocating for diversity and inclusion of communities living on the edge of America politics.
Mabel Teng making history as the first Asian American woman to introduce a presidential candidate on a national stage. Jackson's Rainbow Coalition transformed the Democratic Party which, from tha point on, became the party advocating for diversity and inclusion of communities living on the edge of America politics.
Looking back, 1984 reminds us that the fight for visibility of all the AANHPI communities was forged in that "Rainbow" of solidarity — and as a journalist for the Philippine News, I had a front-row seat to the change.
Jesse Jackson was buried Friday, but his legacy lives on.
EDITOR'S NOTE: For additional commentary, news, views and chismis from an AANHPI perspective, follow me on Threads, on X, BlueSky or at the blog Views From the Edge.
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