Long after the Jesse Jackson birthday-Keep Hope Alive gala had concluded — which honored the likes of producer Roger Bobb, Wanda Smith of the “Frank & Wanda Morning Show” and Leona Barr Davenport of the Atlanta Business League — Waka Flocka Flame’s “momager,” Debra Antney, was still visibly shaken by the experience. With awe stenciled across her face and her eyes filling with tears, she recounted how she couldn’t believe she sat at the same table with the same Jesse Jackson she’s seen on TV for decades, much less being honored by him.
“I don’t think I’ve found a word in the dictionary yet, and I don’t think it’s settled in yet. A part of me don’t believe that I sat at a table with Jesse Jackson. I held a conversation with him,” says Antney, owner of Mizay Entertainment, who was bestowed the Entrepreneur of the Year Award. “You know how you read about people and you see them on TV? I feel like a groupie right now. And then to be honored in something like this. How many people do you know [who] can say [they have] stood on stage with him.”
She was hardly alone in that sentiment at the soirée that is part of the 12th annual RainbowPUSH Creating Opportunity Conference. “Frank & Wanda Morning Show” co-host Wanda Smith spread her disbelief over comedic undertones during the Keep Hope Alive gala at the Hilton Garden Inn Oceanic Ballroom. “I remember as a little girl, Rev. Jackson, when we had a photo above our dinner table of you with Martin Luther King and JFK [John Kennedy]. And I never thought in a million years that I would be sitting at a table with you,” she said.
Many others joined Jackson, including performers Earth Tone Lyrix, The Wardlaw Brothers and poets who blew the doors off the ballroom with their riveting rendition of Jackson’s first presidential run in 1984.
Honorees:
Ms. Wanda Smith – Woman of Vision
The Hon. Andrew Young – Bridge Builder
Ms. Rita Samuels – Fannie Lou Hamer Award
Mr. Clayvon Croom – Trade Bureau Member of the Year
Ms. Leona Barr Davenport – Torchbearer, Ms. Jennifer
French Parker – Journalist of the Year
Mr. Roger Bobb, award-winning director/producer and owner, Bobbcat Films – Entrepreneur of the Year
Ms. Debra Antney, owner of Mizay Entertainment and mother of rapper Waka Flocka Flame – Entrepreneur of the Year
Notable quotes:
Munson Steed, publisher, Steed Media Group and rolling out: “The image of our community is being destroyed at a very rapid rate. Yet, Rev. Jackson, you continue to triumph. I remember growing up in Tuscon, Ariz., and I wanted to be Jesse Jackson because he was one of the few who wasn’t afraid. It seems like today that we have a whole lot of afraid black men and black women.”
April Kelly Drummond, corporate diversity, Dennys: “We’ve been partners with Rev. Jackson on RainbowPUSH for the past 10 years, and we work closely with him on educational initiatives, particularly in his hometown in South Carolina with elementary schools as well with his chapters nationally. So we’re honored to continue this relationship.”
Wanda Smith, co-host of the “Frank & Wanda Morning Program” V-103 Atlanta: I am standing in for people who don’t like their jobs. I am standing for those who are on the way to work. I am standing for those who have been evicted. I’m standing for women who are struggling as single moms. I understand that there are men out here who are fighting for child support.”
Roger Bobb, director and producer and founder of Bobbcat Films: “I’ve gotten many awards in my career. But this one will always be very special to me because it is the first one that I’ve received as an owner of my own company.”
Leona Barr Davenport, CEO and president, Atlanta Business League: “Like Rev. Jackson, I was raised in South Carolina. I was a farm girl, we were raised as sharecroppers. This is an honor for me. We at the Atlanta Business League stand strong and continue to work to ensure that African American business owners have an opportunity to not only start businesses, but to stay in business here in Atlanta and across the country.”
–terry shropshire
