KEEP HOPE ALIVE
by Cash Michaels
This week, I was sadly reminded of the value of being a reporter who was there when the Rev. Jesse Jackson ran for the presidency in 1988, and kicked off his campaign from Raleigh.
Reminded that I was in a position back then to see things and know people who were very much part of the process, so much so that I unexpectedly became a part of the process myself.
Sadly, because Rev. Jackson passed away during the early morning hours of Tuesday, February 17th of this week, claiming his rightful place among the historic heroes and she-roes of the civil rights and social justice movements that helped make America a more equitable place for all people to live.
As I noted, I remember his 1988 campaign much better than Rev. Jackson’s 1984 presidential campaign primarily because the ’88 campaign actually kicked off here in North Carolina at the old Raleigh Civic and Convention Center on Oct. 10, 1987, and I was there.
Rev. Jackson was slated to make his announcement for the presidency during a convention of the National Rainbow Coalition, Jackson’s multi-racial organization that was about empowering the downtrodden of all colors and persuasions through the vote.
I was program director for the old WLLE-AM radio station then, and had made it a point to make “Willie,” the nickname for the small, black-owned, 500-watt daytimer radio station, the cutting edge for news and information in Raleigh’s African-American community. That meant beyond the daily gospel and rhythm & blues programming, we also did a ton of public affairs shows too.
In order to pull that off, I had to be tied into Raleigh’s Black power structure - people such as former Raleigh Mayor Clarence Lightner (the only African-American ever to hold that post); his son, Bruce Lightner, the bold leader who made things happen in the community; District C City Councilman Ralph Campbell, Jr. (whose father, Ralph Campbell, Sr. was the legendary leader of the local NAACP); Wake County Sheriff John H. Baker Jr., the former NFL player and first black sheriff since Reconstruction in the South; Rep. Dan Blue, Jr., who would go on to become the only Black speaker of the NC House, and the list could go on.
“Willie” at the time was THE Black radio station in the community, even though it was an AM, so when important events came to town, the Black leaders listed above would point our way.
When officials with Rev. Jackson’s National Rainbow Coalition did advance work for the convention and Rev. Jackson’s announcement, they came to WLLE-AM asking how we could help promote it so all of Black Raleigh would know what was happening. They wanted a packed house.
I’ll never forget. They told me whatever I wanted, or whoever I wanted, to do a commercial or whatever, all I had to do was ask. Everything had to be done by phone. All I had to do was choose, and if that thing or person was available, I could have them to get the job done.
So, off the top of my head right there on the spot, I said I wanted comedian Bill Cosby (this was long before all of his mess) and someone else (I honestly forget who my second choice was) to do promos for me plus a phone interview to run on the air, thinking to myself “Yeah, right. Let’s see how this turns out.”
Well, I have in my possession to this day, a recording of me actually directing comedian Bill Cosby for the convention promo that I cut together, and doing a brief interview.
I had written a script, but Cosby didn’t want to get into all of that. So I asked him to just say, “Come out, and see history in the making,” which he said twice.
Then, because Cos seemed to be getting pissed off with me, I just asked him to answer one question about why Jesse Jackson should be president. Cos said something like “...because for too long we have been taken granted.” I cut those two answers together with my script for my Cosby spot promoting Rev. Jackson’s historic announcement in Raleigh.
Jackson’s people also got me the popular national “America’s Top 40” radio personality Casey Kasem ( a lot of people then didn’t realize that Casey was actually Lebanese, thus his real name “Kemal Amin Ka-sem”) to rotate with the Cosby spot.
And when the National Rainbow Coalition Convention finally kicked off, I decided I would provide Black Raleigh “live” coverage of the convention highlights. But the radio station could not afford any special equipment to do the job. Cellphones were big, bulky things then, and not many folks had them (this was October 1987). That allowed me to get creative.
So I packed up my equipment, took it down to the Civic and Convention Center downtown (not far from the station), and along with WLLE’s public affairs hostess, Mrs. Margaret Rose Murray, would record segments and interviews with celebrities there on cassette, which a young man would then bicycle to the radio station, interrupt programming and have played back for the community to listen to.
Anyone who listened to “Willie” that Saturday morning could not tell that they were listening to cassette recordings, and those recordings were only maybe ten minutes delayed hitting the air.
When Rev. Jackson finally hit the stage to make his historic announcement, our audience heard it only minutes later clear as a bell on tape, costing our station nothing (maybe a few bucks for the young man on the bicycle).
The NY Times reported it this way:
In the heart of what he called ''the new South,'' where he is running well ahead of the other candidates, the Rev. Jesse Jackson today officially announced his candidacy for the Democratic Presidential nomination.
He told a standing-room-only crowd at the Raleigh Civic Center that he is seeking the Presidency ''to bring justice in our land, mitigate misery in the world and bring peace on earth.''
''Only in America is such a dream possible,'' Mr. Jackson declared to an audience he had worked to a fever pitch.
Naturally, in the years since, I’ve had the occasion of running into Rev. Jackson several times when he would come back to Raleigh. I remember he always stayed at the North Raleigh Hilton. One time I saw him getting a bag from a vehicle trunk in the parking lot, so I ran over, identified myself, and took his bag to carry it inside for him.
A good reporter must be willing to do almost anything for an exclusive with someone as high profile as Jesse Jackson.
I’ll never forget. I figured I’d try to get a smile out of Rev. Jackson first, so I said, while we were walking, “Did you ever think you’d see the day when a member of the press would be carrying your bag?’
He didn’t smile as I had hoped. Instead he kept looking down as we walked toward the Hilton entrance, and replied,”Why not? I’ve been carrying their baggage for a long time!”
Jackson definitely wasn’t smiling when he said it.
That response told me he was still bitter over some of the tough coverage he’d gotten over the years, including in 1984 when he made the mistake of referring to New York City as “Hymietown”- a negative reference to Jewish people - in what he thought was an off-the-record conversation with a reporter.
The blowback from that unforced error hurt Rev. Jackson for some time to come. So understandably, he would subsequently have his guard up.
It would be many years later when I would see an elderly Rev. Jackson at a State NAACP Convention in Raleigh, and ask him to do a quick sit-down interview with me on-camera for a film I was producing titled “Al: My Brother,” about the sixties civil rights movement.
I asked him about the important role many white people played in standing up for Black civil rights, integration, voter registration, etc. It’s the same question I asked Congressman John Lewis months earlier for the film before he died.
Rev. Jackson’s speech was slurred then, but I still used many of his remarks because I was so grateful he took the time to speak with me.
And that was the beauty of the man. Rev. Jesse Jackson was bold, dynamic, eloquent, powerful and visionary. He was a Black Adonis, and next to Muhammad Ali, the personification of Black manhood.
Was Jesse Jackson flawed? Absolutely, but it was because he was that he maintained the credibility to speak to many, and for many who never thought they could ever be somebody.
And Jackson’s outreach to young people was masterful. During his two historic runs for the presidency, in addition to working on behalf of Democratic candidates he supported, Rev. Jackson registered literally millions of new voters, bringing them into the political process and redefining the term “empowerment.”
But before I say anything else, let me also acknowledge that Rev. Jesse Jackson was a devout man of GOD who was led by the spirit, and spoke from it as well. A close disciple of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Rev. Jackson knew that he could easily lose his life as well at the hands of an assassin, but that never stopped him leading, speaking out, and telling truth to power.
Rev. Jesse Jackson has been off the scene for a while now, old age having slowed him down, and yet, when he could, he’d be out there still marching, protesting, and getting arrested with Bishop William Barber, still inspiring young people to do the things that matter for real social change.
His legend is greater now in death, than in life.
If you want to truly honor Rev. Jesse Jackson now that he has gone on to take his rightful place with the ancestors, then simply follow his advice, and “Keep hope alive,” especially in these extremely difficult times.
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