Rev. Jesse Jackson celebrated his birthday Friday, Oct. 16, during the
Keep Hope Alive gala that bestowed awards to CNN contributor Roland Martin,
Ryan and Doug Stewart of “2 Live Stews” and legendary Congressman John Lewis at
the Hyatt Hotel in Atlanta. Musiq Soulchild shut the proceedings down properly after
belting out a bevy of his classic hits, and the venerated Susan L. Taylor
appeared to help Jackson cut his birthday cake.
The Keep Hope Alive celebration punctuated the 10th
annual Peachtree Street Project’s Creating Opportunity Conference. The celebratory
soirée turned dark and somber as Jackson lamented African Americans’ seeming
self-immolation and self degradation after many arduous decades of building
self-esteem and civil rights.
“Here we are, with all the political power that we have and
we’re losing houses in ways we’ve never lost land before. It’s not that we died
but we died so still without resisting death, like we have some kind of
suicidal wish. We must fight back for our dignity. You cannot have a Dr. King
celebration and stand still when [on] the auction block in Atlanta, [you] lose
1,500 homes [due to the bad economy and predatory lending] that same night,”
Jackson said to applause. “You mean we can fight [during the civil rights
movement] to eat a hamburger and we can fight to use the downtown toilet at
Rich’s, but we can’t fight to keep our homes? This struggle is not over.”
List of Awardees:
Woman of Vision Award: Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin
Broadcaster of the Year: Roland Martin
Drum Major for Justice Award: Congressman John Lewis
Drum Major for Justice Award: Senator Robert Ford
Trailblazer Award: Vick Palmer, retired executive VP,
Coca-Cola
Advocate of the Year Award: Attorney Daniel R. Meachum
Fannie Lou Hamer Award: Gail Davenport, civil rights
advocate and humanitarian
Keep Hope Alive Equal Opportunity Award: Moses Brown,
manager, supplier diversity, Reed Elsevier Inc.
Keep Hope Alive Award: Charles E. Johnson
Journalist of the Year: Herbert Dennard
Jesse Jackson Sportspersons of the Year Award: 2 Live
Stews, Ryan and Doug Stewart
Jesse Jackson Sportsperson of the Year Award: Greg Lloyd,
former Pittsburgh Steeler defensive standout.
God’s Trombone Award: Dr. William E. Flippin Sr., Apostle
Colette L. Gunby, Bishop Gary Hawkins Sr., Rev. Judge Penny Reynolds, Dr. E.
Dewey Smith Jr., Dr. T. DeWitt Smith.
