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Reverend Jesse Jackson Sr. & Family
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| Reverend Jesse Jackson Sr. and Joe Wright, Commerce, GA April 2015. |
With my brother Joe Wright, a Homeland Security Transportation Employee, running into Reverend Jackson a few weeks ago and getting a photo with him, I was reminded of my first coverage of Jackson as I worked my way through the University of Georgia as a rookie reporter for WNGC (North Georgia Country)/WGAU Radio Stations in Athens Georgia. What a day, Reverend Jackson was speaking at the University of Georgia Continuing Education Building in the afternoon. He came in gave his speech and he did what I have come to call "A Willie Brown," ( short strategic appearances) but of course I did not know who Willie Brown was then. As Jackson swiftly walked out of the event, I had to grab my equipment from the podium with as little spectacle as possible and run after him.
"Reverend Jackson, Reverend Jackson," I shouted as loud as possible under the circumstances, holding my breath mentally, hoping he'd stop and give me the highly prized "one on one" interview. I couldn't go back to the station without it. Relief! He stopped and right there in the hallway without even being able to connect my mic to my recorder, I just shoved the recorder to his mouth and asked my questions and he was soon on his way. Wow, what a gracious man, I thought as I began mentally writing my story and going to the lobby to get my daughter, Tiffanie who was waiting for me. There she was in her pink Osh Kosh overalls waiting for me with a bigger than usual smile. "Mom, Mom, you're not going to believe it. I just met Jesse Jackson. He came over and spoke to me and shook my hand." "He came over to you?" You didn't go over and bother the man, now did you? It would have been very uncharacteristic for my daughter to be that bold being in the fourth grade at the time, but a mother has to get the full picture. "No, he saw me sitting over here and he came over and shook my hand and said to do good in school."
I never forgot that kindness to my daughter and to me, a young divorced woman raising both my elementary age daughter and teenage sister while working my way through the University of Georgia. Reverend Jesse Jackson gave us the time of day. He wasn't too busy to help someone that for all appearances could be of no assistance to him. That showed me that at his core, he was a compassionate man. Interesting to note that my daughter did do good in school and went on to graduate from Baylor University with a BA in Business with a concentration in Information Technology. Before she graduated she had a job as a coder for a major retail corporation and now married to a Texas for 15 years with an 11, 9, and 5 year old, she recruits I.T. talent for a major gaming corporation.
The man who inspired my daughter to "do good in school" made no mention of technology, yet my daughter, no thanks to her liberal arts
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| Jackie Wright rookie reporter for WNGC/WGAU radio stations in Athens, GA interviews Reverend Jesse Jackson at the Georgia Center for Continuing Education in the early '80's. |
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rone mother, has thrived in the arena. Just imagine what a definitive difference Reverend Jesse Jackson is making for the Oakland students benefiting from Intel's $5 million investment and those that will work for and do business with Silicon Valley thanks to his bringing light on the situation.
Here are some documents released previously by Rainbow PUSH that gives the stark reality of the lack of diversity in Silicon Valley.
A couple of years after I graduated from the University of Georgia Henry W. Grady Journalism School, I got a chance to cover Reverend Jesse Jackson in Montgomery, Al... and once again running was part of the experience. I had worked for about an hour and a half with my cameraman getting B-roll, talking to other speakers at the rally and there was no sign of Reverend Jackson. So we had to head back to Columbus Georgia ( over an hour and half away and an hour ahead of Montgomery's central time) to get the story on the air for WTVM, the ABC affiliate.
As soon as we got through the crowd of 2,000 people and were at the bottom of the Alabama capitol steps, we hear the whisper through the crowd, Jesse Jackson is making it to the podium. So we run back through the crowd and we muscled our way up the steps so that I was standing next to Reverend Jackson at the podium and we got the sound and shot we needed. There was the WTVM flag in the shot, a badge of honor. "Run Jesse, Run!" has always made me chuckle as I was always on the run when I covered Reverend Jackson back in the day.
Here in the Bay, although our pacing has slowed a tad, we're both still on point when it comes to social justice. Sad or poignant, this clip shows that not much has changed over the years. One of the most powerful interviews I had was with the now deceased Civil Rights Leader Hosea Williams, whose emphasis was on feeding the poor. As a matter of fact Reverend Cecil Williams' passion for the poor reminds me of him. The soundbite does not show it...but he said to me "There is a new surge of racism, and Jim Crow is now dressed up in a three piece suit as James Crow, Esquire." Even in the rush to get on the air,how that got on the editing floor...I can't fathom. That was in the mid '80's...The answer my friend is blowing in the wind... Hosea's words were whispering the truth that policy can rob people of hard fought achievements. Now his words have drifted time are like a full gale storm warning and have in a sense manifested in Michelle Alexander's book "The New Jim Crow."
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Reverend Jesse Jackson Speaks on the Steps of the Alabama Capitol Steps
(Fast Forward to Story at 2:47) |
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