A Nashville reporter remembers her meeting with Jesse Jackson
When I heard that Jesse Jackson had passed, it caused me to pause and think about what his life and his passing meant to America and to the African American race.
In the year 2000, I was given the difficult task of interviewing Jesse Jackson. He was very well protected. I discovered that he was staying at the Loews Vanderbilt Hotel so off I went. I questioned one of the bellhops and he told me that Mr. Jackson would be coming down to the lobby shortly, so I sat and waited. After about 30 minutes, I began to hear a buzz in the lobby and I looked toward the elevator only to see Mr. Jackson and his daughter with an entourage leave the elevator. I have seen Jesse Jackson many times here in Nashville either at Fisk University, or Tennessee State or other venues around town, but this time I was able to get up close and personal with him. There were no other reporters around so I was able to get in a few questions. He was very personable and agreeable and allowed me to take pictures.
In our brief meeting, he said that he loved Nashville and that he had lots of friends here who were involved in the civil rights movement.
“Nashville was the core of the movement and persons like Diane Nash and John Lewis were vital to the success that was made in this city,” he told me.
In 1986, Jackson ran for president of the United States and at that time he held a large rally at Vanderbilt University and he spoke at the Jefferson Street Missionary Baptist Church where he advocated for the poor and he also encouraged the importance of voting.
When Dr. Martin Luther King was assassinated, it was a devastating blow to the African American community, but we knew we still had John Lewis and Jesse Jackson. When John Lewis died, we knew we still had Jesse Jackson. Now that Jesse has passed, we are a race without leadership living in a country who doesn’t love us as much as we love it.
I did not get a full interview as he was on his way to the airport, but as Jesse Jackson entered his limo, he looked back at me and said, “Keep hope alive.”