Remembering Jesse Jackson

Remembering Jesse Jackson: Years ago I had the pleasure of meeting the Reverend Jesse Jackson, who has now passed away. Here is a recount of that wonderful encounter from the Companion Content of my book, Designing Transformative Experiences. RIP Jessie.

What I learned from Jesse Jackson About Narrative Typology:

Many years ago, on one of my first trips working with the National Center for Women and IT, I attended a conference at Intel’s headquarters in San Francisco. The Reverend Jesse Jackson was speaking. His Rainbow Coalition group was taking a stance on diversity, equity, and inclusion in big tech, relating it to the Civil Rights movement he had helped shaped over his lifetime.

After he had finished his extremely moving speech and left the stage, I ducked out to make a phone call. When I returned, everybody was still in the auditorium — except for Reverend Jackson — who was alone in the lobby at the snack table grabbing a quick bite. It was an opportunity I could not pass up.

Now, I had seen Reverend Jackson decades ago in the 90’s when I was an undergraduate and he came to my college campus as part of his presidential campaign. He gave a powerful speech called “Common Ground” about the unifying threads woven into ourAmerican experience as the most multi-cultural nation on Earth. Then as now, I was moved by his perspectives.

So on this day, I awkwardly walked up to him with a smile and introduced myself. I told him the story of seeing him all those years ago. He shook my hand between bites, probably wondering if I wanted a selfie with him (I now regret not getting one!). Instead, I told him about my research into transformative experiences and asked him, as I have so many others, “Reverend Jackson, what has been your most transformative experience, so far?”

Suddenly serious, he asked me my name again, put down his plate and turned to face me squarely. At about six foot three inches, Jackson is a towering man. I remember looking up at him, ready for a towering story. Not missing a beat, he instead gave me two of his most transformative experiences, complete with their ultimate impacts — as though he understood and cut right to the chase of my question.

First, he said, was being there when Dr. Martin Luther King Junior was assassinated. He described it as a heartbreaking and nation-changing moment that while tragic, also ensured Dr. King’s lasting moral authority forevermore. It also resulted in a personal transformation for Jackson, as he realized in an instant that the torch had been passed to himself and King’s other supporters to now lead. It was both a tragedy narrative and a coming-of-age narrative as Jackson rose to help fill the empty space King left behind.

Second, he said, was the freeing of hostages. First in 1983, when he freed downed pilot Robert Goodman Jr. from Syria under Hafez Al-Assad. Then again in 1990 when he negotiated the release of dozens of captives from Saddam Hussein in Iraq, including 5-year-old Brit Stuart Lockwood and his parents. And also the negotiated rescue of three captured American soldiers in Bosnia from Slobodan Milosevic in 1999. No one thought he could succeed in these endeavors, acting as a private citizen. But he was backed by his network — a coalition of friends, family, non-profits, sponsors, and fellow interdenominational clergy from around the world. And when he did succeed, he was

transformed into an internationally respected statesman, even running for president in 1984 and 1988 (when I first saw him speak), in addition to his identity as human rights activist.

He told me that these experiences demonstrated to himself that he could succeed where others could not, and that he had a moral obligation to try no matter the odds. Jackson has now negotiated the release of over 200 captives all over the world, including Cuba, Africa, and Europe. These transformative experiences were part test-of-will narratives, part relationship narratives, and part inspiration narratives.www.designingtransformativeexperiences.com

As he finished his story, his entourage found us at the snack table and said the car was ready. A moment later, Jesse Jackson was gone. I pulled out my notebook immediately and wrote my notes of this serendipitous encounter.