Meeting Jesse Jackson

In 2004 I worked at the University of Chicago. That winter, a friend had arranged for me to pick him up at the University Hospital after his colonoscopy and give him a ride home. At the appointed time, I noticed a larger and more congested crowd than usual at the front entrance of the clinic, so I walked into the main lobby of the clinic from another door. This brought me to the elevators from the opposite side of the main lobby. I noticed that there was some sort of crowd control going on, but it was not in my way and I did not pay much more attention than that.

Well, it turns out that the crowd control and all that was because Jesse Jackson was coming into the building, and his entourage had tried to make his transition from his car to the elevator as smooth as possible. Being the ignorant person that I am, however, I had frustrated that. The timing could not have been more perfect. As I walked up to the elevators, I felt almost lucky to have the doors open right in front of me and have hardly anyone standing in my way. No sooner had I walked into an empty elevator than I was pushed, kind of roughly I would have to say, back against the wall by two guys that were the epitome of stereotypical secret service-type bodyguards. Tall, dark suits, ties, aviator sunglasses, little wire-coiled earphone, menacing looks, the works.

Well, I don't know too many people that like getting pushed, and this certainly got my attention. The push finally got me to take notice of what was going on and in that moment, in walked Jesse Jackson. I never knew it before then, but Jesse is a really tall guy. As he steps in, the two suits stand on either side of him. Now, all of this happened really fast. Jesse had his arms down with his hands clasped at his front and his head down; he clearly did not want to talk or even acknowledge a shmoe like me. And it probably would have been a good idea for me to keep my mouth shut, but the rude shove had gotten me a little riled and I felt it was a perfectly reasonable thing to say something about what had happened.

So, without thinking too much about it, I said, "Hey, there's no reason to Push; we can all rise to the top together."

Jesse, founder of the Rainbow-PUSH Coalition, just shook his head, and his bodyguards increased the intensity of their menacing stares. Luckily, it was a short ride on a fast elevator for me, and I got off before I did anything else particularly stupid.

And that is the story of how I met Jesse Jackson.