I just learned that the man who came very close to being my stepfather when I was a girl, passed away early this morning (Aug 2) at Holy Name Hospital in Teaneck. No wonder all day long I’ve felt a powerful sense of loss all that I wasn’t able to shake off. In all the world, Jack Drakeford is one of the people whose presence in my life has most touched me, and whose friendship I have most valued.
Who was the towering man with soulful eyes and a huge bear hug always ready for his favorite friends? Jack Drakeford was champion of the new Jersey Black community, friend and mentor of young people preparing to take flight into the world, lover of iHop, speaker of truth, formidable politician and a man possessed of an extraordinary grasp of the struggle for racial and social justice in the United States and what it takes to build the rights that make equality happen. And an amazing friend.
My mother, Joyce Waye (who used an alternate spelling of my family name, which is Chinese) and the man my sons called Uncle Jack, along with civil right activist Shirley Lacey, Bill Brown of the Urban League for Bergen County, African American Historian Arnold Brown, Bravelle Nesbitt of Nesbitt Funeral Home, Sam Cureton, Mayor Reverend Walter Taylor, Assemblyman Byron Baer, Mayor Sandra Greenberg and Senator Matty Feldman were amoung the area Democrats who fought and won the long battle to outlaw real estate red-lining in Bergen County in the 1970s, a practice that excluded ethnic minority families – and particularly Black Americans – from purchasing homes in many neighborhoods. These iconic figures from my childhood pioneered the concept in American life that cultural differences should a cause for pride and celebration instead of an aspect of a person’s background that should be either locked away out of shame or ghettoized, and went on from there to help enact and institute, many programs and opportunities providing ethnic minority individuals with the means to profit from and enjoy the benefits of modern life in one of the wealthiest communities of our nation.
I listened with a great sense of humility and the enormous significance of that historic event, when Jack recounted the day he spent in DC attending the inaugural celebration of America’s first Black president. He told Ivan, Ari and me how cold it was that day, where he and other dignitaries sat outside in rigid chairs for hours even before the ceremony began, and how he didn’t mind the physical discomfort at all – his excitement minimized it to just a slight inconvenience. I could well imagine. It was transparently clear that the day embodied for my friend, the culmination of everything he had worked for and dreamed of during his life and a career dedicated to serving his country. Jack Drakeford’s dreams, my mother’s dreams, and their steadfast determination to change our society for the better are the legacy they leave for all their children, and now grandchildren, and the generations that are coming.
Jack Drakeford has passed away at a time when many of the civil rights protections he and my mother fought to achieve have fallen under aggressive attack by immoral businessmen and politicians. On the one hand, we can ask ourselves, how can we move forward with positive social change without these giants’ help and guidance? But the answer is clear and simple: to honor them, we MUST move forward. They are leaving the playing field to move onto brighter pastures and it’s our turn to move the team on to new glory.
Thank you, Uncle Jack, for a lifetime of lessons in politics, clarity, hope and heart. Thank you for being my friend and for loving me and my family. I will so miss you.
The Record newspaper on Jack Drakeford
Post your memories here and on the Facebook page RIP Jack Drakeford, we will always love you.