Rev. Jesse Jackson’s visit to province impresses many

By Tina Comeau

THE VANGUARD

NovaNewsNow.com

Craig Smith likens Rev. Jesse Jackson’s visit to Nova Scotia last week as both a rock star moment and the chance to interact with living, breathing, walking history. “It was probably the first person that I’ve been around where the moment he stepped into the room it was like a rock star had come in,” he says. “People were screaming, hollering and whistling. It was amazing.”

Smith, who is a corporal with the RCMP’s Community Aboriginal and Diversity Policing Unit in Halifax, and who used to be stationed at the Yarmouth RCMP town detachment, says last week’s visit in the Halifax region by the civil rights activist was quite exciting.

Smith is passionate about black history. He has authored books on the subject and does all he can to promote this province’s black history, dating back from 1782 to the present day. So when he was asked to present his two books – You Better Be White By 6 A.M., a book chronicling the African-Canadian experience in the RCMP, and his more recent book, the Ultimate African Heritage Quiz Maritime Edition – to Rev. Jackson, he was thrilled.

When he was asked to do RCMP Red Serge duty he was honoured. But then when he was asked to be Rev. Jackson’s official escort Smith was over the moon. “It was really cool to sit down with a piece of living history and be able to talk with him and converse with him,” says Smith, referring to Rev. Jackson’s civil rights movement work through the decades, which included working alongside of Dr. Martin Luther King in the 1960s. Smith also recalls watching Rev. Jackson’s U.S. presidential bid in 1988.

While in Nova Scotia, Rev. Jackson was the guest speaker at the 60th anniversary celebrations of the Nova Scotia Co-operative Council.

He is also hoping to see an affiliate chapter of his RainbowPUSH Coalition – an organization that pushes for social change – to be formed in this province.

Lana Cromwell, the international representative for the Nova Scotia Alliance of Black School Educators ¬– the organization that helped to facility Rev. Jackson’s outreach into the broader community while he was in Nova Scotia, and also hosted a reception for Rev. Jackson – says forming a chapter here is definitely in the works. Cromwell, who has ties to the Weymouth area, also works with Rev. Jackson in Chicago on his Push Excel Education Program.

While Rev. Jackson was in the province he also wanted the chance to interact with youth. So arrangements were made for him to meet with an African-Canadian Studies class at Cole Harbour District High School. “He engaged with everybody on a personal level and that was amazing to see one person work a room like that. I had one teacher come up to me afterwards who said, ‘This is probably the most exciting moment in my life.’ He had that type of presence when he talked to people,” says Smith.

The message Rev. Jackson gave to the students was to choose futures over funerals, to choose life over death and to choose hope over dope. “Use your skills to make life better for us all,” he told them, before later touring the Black Cultural Centre.

As for Cpl. Smith, he says he’s met a lot of people in his lifetime, but none quite like Rev. Jackson. “He stands head and shoulders above a whole lot,” he says. “He’s living history.”