Jackson Optimistic on Wall Street Gathering

The Rev. Jesse Jackson said that a Wall Street conference next week featuring President Clinton could help minorities gain a bigger share of the U.S. economy. Jackson said the gathering, which will also include an address by Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, was designed to show corporate America the promise of the $700-billion black and Latino market. Jackson also called U.S. minorities “emerging markets” safe from tremors like those in Asia that have jolted Wall Street and corporate bottom lines. The conference, run by Jackson’s Rainbow/PUSH Coalition with sponsorship from the New York Stock Exchange and Travelers Group Inc., will include workshops on minority issues, Clinton’s speech Thursday and a fund-raiser on the floor of the NYSE. Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin, Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Arthur Levitt and John Sweeney, president of the AFL-CIO, will also participate. A Rainbow/PUSH spokesman said the coalition had bought shares in 39 companies, including PolyGram and Time Warner Inc., in part because of the large number of blacks in the recording industry, and in MCI Communications Corp. The group has also bought shares in troubled Columbia/HCA Healthcare Corp. The conference coincides with the U.S. holiday marking the birth of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. and the first anniversary of Rainbow/PUSH’s campaign to widen minorities’ participation on Wall Street. Jackson, who sought the Democratic nomination for president in 1984 and 1988, said the fund-raiser will help pay for new staff at the seven-member Rainbow/PUSH office on Wall Street.