Urban League conference marked by hope and tears; 13 Knoxvillians leave D.C. with lifelong memories

• Some of us (including me!) shook President Obama’s hand.
• We cried when national treasure, poet Maya Angelou, recited a poem about slavery and black history with rapper Common.
• We were astounded to see the media crush around Congressman Charles Rangel, who sat at a table next to us at lunch the day before a House ethics committee announced 13 charges against him.
• We heard Jesse Jackson, Andrew Young, Vernon Jordan, Magic Johnson, Angela Bassett, Ed Gordon and other luminaries discuss the state of Black America.
• We heard numerous cabinet members talk about changes we can expect.

And we marveled about how lucky we were to be having this experience.

Here are just a few highlights of last week’s National Urban League convention in Washington D.C. It  marked the 100-year anniversary of the civil rights organization.

But first, you gotta see this brief video clip taken by Jim Nichols of his wife, Knoxville Area Urban League President and CEO Phyllis Nichols, meeting President Obama. (Phyllis is the one with Beyonce-colored hair. I’m the blond in the black jacket to her right.)

Awesome, isn’t it?

Here are some of my favorite convention moments.

Although we had been in Washington for two days, the “official” kick-off of the convention was Wednesday night at the huge First Baptist Church of Glenarden, in Maryland.

Phyllis and Jim Nichols at First Baptist Church of Glenarden

Tears flowed througout the massive sanctuary when fragile 82-year-old poet Maya Angelou, joined by a rapper named Common, recited a poem about slavery and other painful aspects of black history. “You have been paid for,” Angelou said by way of introduction. “All of you have been paid for.” She was speaking of the debt owed to blacks who have come before. “By living on the edge of death, they kept my dreams alive,” she intoned. We all agreed that seeing and hearing Angelou was, in itself, worth the trip.

Maya Angelou shown on a big screen as she recites her poem written especially for the Urban League occasion.

National Urban League President and CEO Marc Morial speaks at the church.

The main event was Thursday morning. By hustling, our little group (the Nichols; Peyton Hairston, who is chairman of the Knoxville Area Urban League Board; my husband, Alan Carmichael, and myself) got seats on the ninth row for President Obama’s speech.

Sign announcing the upcoming speech

View from our seats

The President on the big screen

The President’s speech was mostly about education reform, including much discussion of the Race to the Top initiative, in which Tennessee was one of two winning states.

“Countries that out-educate us today will out-compete us tomorrow,” he said, adding that in one generation, America has fallen from the number one spot to number 12 in college completion rates. “The status quo is morally inexcusable and economically indefensible,” he said to applause.

The key to getting to shake the president’s hand — or that of any celebrity, really — is to move quickly toward the front as soon as the speech is over. That’s what Phyllis and I did, followed closely by Peyton Hairston, who also got a presidential handshake.

President Obama works the rope line.

That's Phyllis' hand at left holding a cell phone camera as the President approaches!

(My photo wasn’t as good this year as it was last year when I shot Phyllis and Vice President Joe Biden. Click here to see that. Of course, there wasn’t quite as much pressure last year!)

Other highlights of speeches throughout the convention:

• Andrew Young, a former Atlanta mayor and U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, was quick to answer when he was asked what advice he would give young black people today. “Quit going to law school!” he snapped. “Study mathematics and economics. We need to understand the system. We don’t have enough economists. We don’t have enough people in the field of mathematics.”
• Vernon Jordan, lawyer, adviser to former President Bill Clinton, and National Urban League president from1971 to 1981, said, “The world is a better place because the National Urban League has been here for 100 years. If the Urban League had not been created, we would have to create it to deal with the issues that face us.” Jordan warned that many challenges remain. “Today, there are more black men in jail than in college,” he said, which was a shock to me. “There can be no time-outs in the fight for freedom and equality,” he said. “We must fight American racism in its new, more sophisticated form. There are no more white robes with hoods. There are now three-piece suits with vests.”
• John Jacob, who was National Urban League president from 1982 to 1994, said of President Obama: “We delivered for him. Now we are asking him to deliver for us.” Referring to the Obama administration’s bailouts of big American corporations, Jacob said, “If General Motors and Chrysler are too big to fail and if AIG and Bank of America are too big to fail, then certainly our communities are too big to fail and they are certainly too valuable to fail.”
• Hilda Solis, the U.S. Secretary of Labor, spoke to the “Women of Power” luncheon. She told of how, as one of seven children born of immigrants from Nicaragua and Mexico, she was told by her high school guidance counselor in California that she was “not college material.” The counselor suggested to her that she go into “secretarial” work.  But she ignored him and got degrees from college and law school, was elected to the California State Assembly and then the state Senate, followed by a stint in Congress before being named Secretary of Labor by President Obama. “So that secretary title?” she laughed to loud audience applause. “It did eventually come into play!”
• John Hofmeister, the chairman of the board of the National Urban League and the former president of Shell, had a sobering message about America’s energy future. “The United States has the oldest, most tired, worn-out, least invested-in infrastructure of any modern nation,” he said. “It’s getting old — and in urban America, it’s getting really old.” He warned that we must invest in improving the energy infrastructure and urged local Urban League affiliates to get involved in training people to help in this effort. “We are taking our energy for granted and we can’t afford to do that,” he said. “We are getting closer and closer to brown-outs and black-outs. Utilities are getting closer and closer to having to shut down the system in order to protect the system. When that happens, banks will have to close and grocery stores will be giving away frozen food because they won’t have electricity to run their freezers.” Wowza! Another shocker.

Those were just a few of the inspiring and thought-provoking speeches. We also had a lot of fun. Alan and I rode an elevator with actress Alfre Woodard, but I was too embarrassed to pull out the camera and take her picture at such close range!

Jim Nichols was one of ten people to win an iPad at a lunch we attended. A General Foods spokesman said from the podium that, as a sponsor of the event, they had placed a General Foods sticker under 10 saucers among the more than 1,500 place settings. Jim had one of the winning saucers!

Jim and his winning saucer!

Jim and his iPad

At the same luncheon where Jim won his iPad, we spotted comedian Dick Gregory in the audience.

Dick Gregory

Also at that lunch, actress Angela Bassett received an award.

Angela Bassett accepts an award.

You couldn’t go to Washington, D.C., and not expect to see a protest! These folks were picketing outside the Walter E. Washington Convention Center prior to President Obama’s speech. Their intentions weren’t entirely clear except that they said they were protesting “loan sharks.” OK, then.

Anti-loan shark protest

The number of cameras following Congressman Charles Rangel into one of the lunch programs was very disruptive, to say the least. Not only did they surround him as he was coming in and while he was delivering a speech, but they parked themselves around the lunch table and shot him continually while he was eating, really creating a scene and disturbing other nearby diners. I’m a former journalist myself, so I support them being able to shoot some photos. But how many pictures do you really need of the same guy eating lunch?

Unlike the other photographers, I only took one picture of Charles Rangel eating lunch. Promise.

There’s always a large vendor area at these conventions. One vendor, Wells Fargo had set up a game where you use a water gun to shoot a target that makes lights representing race horses run around a track. Four people do this at one time and the winner gets a prize package. Of course, Alan and Peyton gave it a shot and Peyton won a satchel full of swag. He gave it to a little girl he had defeated. Nice guy.

Alan and Peyton hunker down over their water guns.

In addition to the folks I’ve already mentioned, eight members of the Knoxville Area Urban League Young Professionals group attended the convention and participated in sessions designed just for the younger crowd. All I can tell you about their activities is that their parties ran a lot later than ours did! Representing Knoxville were Johnny Taylor, Landon Dukes, Tori Griffin, Chris Jones, Y’londa Byrd, Quiana Hardy, Colber Prosper and Tierney Bates.

Phyllis Nichols poses in the Capitol with Landon Dukes, left, and Chris Jones. Both of them work for KUB.

One last note: We heard the so-called “Negro National Anthem” played many times during the conference. It is a beautiful song that I’ve heard often. But, combined with this video, which was played on big screens on at least two occasions, it truly gives you goose bumps. It tells the story of African Americans from slavery until today. It’s well worth a watch.

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