Wednesday, September 06, 2006

My run-in with Jesse Jackson's Operation PUSH

In 1993, I was a convention service manager at Chicago's Congress Hotel. One of the groups I worked with, or attempted to, was the Operation PUSH annual convention. PUSH of course later merged with Rainbow Coalition, forming Rainbow/PUSH.

My experience with PUSH was a nightmare. They were angry. They were disorganized. And they expected everything for free.

PUSH wanted only African-Americans to work their events, and they were upset that I couldn't meet their demand: Union seniority rules made that impossible. Oh, the blacks we had on the staff didn't like working the PUSH parties, as the PUSH-ees were difficult customers for them as well.

I don't know how close Jesse Jackson, Jr. is to Rainbow/PUSH. But he's bound to have some link to the group, and simply put, the City of Chicago can't have those crazies from Rainbow/PUSH inside City Hall.

Yes, I know my run-in with PUSH was thirteen years ago, but I have no reason to believe that the newer Rainbow/PUSH has changed its stripes. After all, Jesse Jackson Sr. is still in charge.

Meanwhile, today I'm reading that Jesse, Jr. is testing the waters for a possible run for mayor of Chicago.

Maybe I'll move back to Chicago (as many of my critics have called for) just to vote against Junior.

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