Dr. Frederick Haynes III, senior pastor of the 13,000-member Friendship-West Baptist Church in Dallas, has been installed as the president and CEO of the Rainbow PUSH Coalition.
The installation ceremony took place on Feb. 1 at the Black Arts and Letter complex in Dallas. Haynes replaces the Rev. Jesse Jackson, who founded the organization in 1996.
Luminaries such as news commentator Roland Martin, the Rev. Al Sharpton of the National Action Network and Shavonne Arline-Bradley of the National Council of Negro Women were among the hundreds that attended the event.
Sharpton, who hosts a weekend MSNBC program “PoliticsNation,” delivered the keynote address. He connected Haynes’s work and ministry to the civil rights movement as a social justice pastor.
“Look at the time we are in: everything that was gained in the 60s is now under threat,” Sharpton said. “They talk about affirmative action, women’s rights, diversity, inclusion, voting rights like somebody woke up and gave us that. Nobody donated anything to us. We fought for everything we got, and we need to get back to fighting right now. And that’s why I’ve come to celebrate Freddy because we need fighters in the pulpit. … We need a fighter like Freddy Haynes.”
Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas), who represents many African Americans in the Dallas area in the House, is a member of Haynes’s church.
“I’m here to tell you that the transformation is up to all of us,” she said. “There is no movement that doesn’t take all of us.”
Haynes was sworn in by Paul Quinn College President Michael J. Sorrell.
“How appropriate it is during Black History Month, that we look back … but we look forward to a great future,” Haynes said.
The day after the installation, the organization hosted the President’s Inaugural Social Justice Conference at Paul Quinn College. A wide range of speakers from former Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. to anti-violence and women’s rights activist Tamika Mallory talked about various approaches to fighting for equal rights and justice.
