Living Legends remember and honor Mayor Washington’s 90th birthday

 

By Chinta Strausberg

 

Monday, many African Americans will be celebrating the 90^th birthday of the late Mayor Harold Washington for it will be his actual birthday; however, some remembered him in a very different way.

A number of living legends honored the 90^th birthday of Mayor Harold Washington late Thursday night at Josephine’s Hardtime Cooking Restaurant where they revealed little known secrets about the charismatic late Mayor Washington.

For more than four-hours scores of Washington supporters listened intensively at the stories told by such men like Herman Roberts who once owned nine motels and still owns four active oil wells on 160-acres in Oklahoma, Herbert Hedgeman, who owns a motel and other businesses, Illinois Appellate Court Justice P. Scott Neville, Toure Muhammad, a former firefighter, Vince Lane, former CHA Chairman and LeRoy Martin, former superintendant of Police who served 12-days before Washington died on November 25, 1987 at the age of 65.

The event was supposed to be a 90^th birthday party in memory of Mayor Washington given by the We Can, Inc. Committee chaired by Florence Cox with the popular NBC 5 on-air personality Art Norman as the Masters of Ceremony, but it mostly quickly turned a trip down memory lane, a call to action on social issues and ending with a fun-filled Karaoke sing-a-long.

Roberts, who owned the Robert Motels in Chicago, Gary, Oklahoma and St. Louis, once held a heated meeting in Room 300 in his 63^rd Street motel where elected officials and activists met to discuss the mayoral candidacy of Washington.

“Any time a politician wanted a room in my place for a meeting, there was never a charge. The same thing with ministers because sometimes you have to give in order to make. You give up some money, pretty soon they’ll come back.”

Roberts reflected on the time he had the “My House.” He told the late Congressman Ralph Metcalfe he could have a party at “My House.” “He sent out all of his invitations saying he was having a party at my house. All the people went to his house….

“Harold Washington is the only person I really threw a party for…. We invited all the businessmen. I am not a politician. I’m not a preacher. I am not a teacher. I’m a business person. I said we need somebody to represent the business people. We had four or five car dealers.

“We filled the place,” he said referring to his 500 Room at his Roberts Motel. Syd Ordower, who had the Jubilee Showcase on TV, also came to this fundraiser. “We raised a lot of money for Harold plus I raised a little money for myself,” he said laughing. Roberts had everyone laughing when he quipped: “I know a lot of stuff that a lot of people don’t know,” and when Brookins interjected  “because you had the rooms,” Roberts fired back, “If I really want to tell it, I’d have all ya’ll ducking….”

Roberts once owned the largest black cab company in Chicago and said at one time Hedgeman was one of his drivers. “He drove my cab from Chicago all the way to Wilberforce, OH, and he ain’t picked up one passenger. I didn’t know where my cab was,” he said laughing. Hedgeman said he took the cab one time because he was attending Wilberforce University and he had to get to school.

Hedgeman looked up to Roberts who also once owned several other businesses besides the motels including Roberts Chauffeur, Roberts Bowling Alley, Roberts Skating Rink and other businesses. Roberts liked Washington and considered him a close friend.

Roberts revealed, “Some of the black politicians didn’t like Harold that well because he was making them stand up…. With (Ald. Edward R.) Vrdolyak, all those fighting (Washington), people thought he was crazy, but he was the nicest person you’d ever meet.” Roberts said the fight between Washington and Vrdolyak was one of power and an opposition to change.

Former Senator Howard Brookins knew Washington when the late mayor was a state senator. “When he went to congress and I became a state senator, Rev. Jesse Jackson called us to help us get products in the A&P store. Harold and I went with Jesse to the A&P headquarters to get black products in their stores, and he was successful. He meant a lot to me.”

Brookins said the deputy registrar bill that allowed them to increase the number of registered voters “to get him elected was the first bill I passed in Springfield. I’m very pleased with Harold.” Brookins said he respected Washington. “He was a knowledgeable man. He would stay up all night reading. He was kind of recluse, too. He would be in his room just reading, studying and drinking, too,” he said.

“You could go to him with legislation, and he would interpret it and explain it to you, and those guys would go on the floor and look like geniuses. He was a nice guy. He could go anywhere…a tavern talking their language, in the White House with a king talking their language. That’s a man for all seasons…,” said Brookins.

Brookins said he was only one of three to endorse Washington in the primary and that he is very proud of that. Brookins said the other two were Ald. Eugene Sawyer (6^th) and Ald. Niles Sherman (21^st).

Muhammad became a fireman after Washington was elected. The mayor gave this writer a list of men who had passed the test but the city claimed they could not find them. When their names were published, Muhammad responded and became a fireman.

Rev. Nathan Edmond, pastor of the Empowering Word International Ministries, a chaplain at the Cook County Jail, and a real estate investor and an entrepreneur, said he too did not know Mayor Washington. “I thought he was a great politician, a great mayor and was a great example that if you persevere, you can rise to the top.”

Sylvester J. Hendricks, Commander of the American Legion of Illinois 3^rd District, asked for the support in keeping Mayor Harold Washington’s name on the post located on the far South West Side of Chicago.

“The American Legion wants to pull the charter for the Sons of Legionnaires (which is a squadron),” said Hendricks. “They are going to proposed at their June meeting the pulling of the charter because they say the our post is not at the level that it needs to be because we don’t have enough active members.”

Hendricks said the post has 13 active members but he needs up to 16 active members to prevent the American Legion from pulling their charter.  He’s seeking help from veterans who would like to become members of this historically named post to call him at: 312-685-9292.

Marlon McClinton, president/CEO of the Utilivate Technologies, said he did not know Mayor Washington personally but he loved him through the media. “My children and I spent a lot of time in the park from across the street” where Washington lived.

“It was nice seeing him in Walgreens and other places in the neighborhood. I admired his work, that he hired from our community, that he was a model of excellence in our community, a model of scholarship and political activity. I admired him from community for many years. I loved him and I loved his work. He inspires me today.

“Mayor Washington was a brilliant man. He was a fair mayor, which means that everybody benefited from his great work and our community benefited. I knew a neighbor across the street from me who served at a high level in his administration. For the first time, it allowed me to see people who actually served in government. I didn’t see them before he was mayor. It was great seeing both him and seeing professionals work and live in our community, on my block…,” said McClinton.

Administrative Law Judge Bernadette Freeman said she did not know Washington. She was not living in Chicago but had heard “about how he was effective and the things he did in the African American community in terms of opening doors for small business owners and making sure blacks had access to contracts.”

Muhammad certainly knew Washington as a member of the Third Ward Democratic Party. “A lot of conversations took place and a lot of deals got cut in the basements,” he recalled.  One day Muhammad was in the basement and said when he told someone he wasn’t interested in politics, but an older woman who worked for the sheriff’s department came over and gave him this tip, “Baby, let me explain something to you about politics. Politics is like going to bed with a woman and wake up in he morning and not know it. Politics make strange bedfellows. I’ll never forget it”

At that time, Washington was a state representative. Muhammad said he ran across Washington who asked him for his vote, but Muhammad said, “We don’t vote” prompting Washington to tell him, “One day you will.”

It wasn’t long before Muhammad ran across a certain black state representative “who was riding with (Mayor) Jane Byrne. He had a suitcase full of money. He was coming around asking people to take care of Jane Byrne, and so we met with Harold who told us, ‘take the money and vote for me.”

“It was so beautiful because Harold set example for a lot of us young guys,” said Muhammad who also praised Washington’s vocabulary.

Johnson, who has been fighting for a postal stamp for Washington for decades, said the late mayor was a contact person for Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Chinta Strausberg is a Journalist of more than 33-years, a former political reporter and a current PCC Network talk show host. You can e-mail Strausberg at: Chintabernie@aol.com.