(DOUG JESSOP – JESSOP’S JOURNAL) The good book says, “Love Thy Neighor As Thyself.” In this Sundays Jessop’s Journal episode I channeled Mr. Rodgers and decided to take you along as we visit some neighbors.
Jessop’s Journal airs Sunday morning at 10 on ABC4 Utah
Our first guest is a guy with a powerful story of acceptance. He also has a powerful voice. He isn’t our musical guest, but you can see and hear him on a regular basis as a member of the Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square. He also happens to be openly gay.
James C Jackson III has a positive story of listening… really listening. What does that mean? It means not listening to respond, but instead listening to understand.
Everyone has story. Stories have power. Objects can have INSPIRATIONAL stories. Objects with stories are Treasures Remembered. Here’s a quick question for you. Imagine that you are leaving your home country and will probably not come back home ever again. What would you bring with you to remind you of your beloved homeland?
In between, Talia Keys entertains us with a very important powerful, positive and inspirational message (yes she hit all three!)
But first, Alex Lindstrom…
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Everyone has a story. Stories have power. They help us understand each other. In this episode of Jessop’s Journal, I sat down with Alex Lindstrom.
What is the “hook” of this story? It just so happens that Alex is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day-Saints. He is also member of one of the most well-known choirs in the world. You might have heard of them, but they did change their name a little while ago from “The Mormon Tabernacle Choir” to what they are now known as; “The Tabernacle Choir on Temple Square.” Alex also happens to be gay. How do those facts work together? You’ll just need to watch the interview to get that answer.
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Some pretty incredible stories are told through music in a feature I call “Jessop’s Jukebox.”
Our featured musical guest in this episode is Talia Keys. She shares an incredible song with an important message called “Head Up.”
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James Jackson the Third. The name just sounds lyrical. I met James at the NAACP MLK Awards.
James is the Founder and President of The Black Chamber of Commerce. Come to find out that they’ve been around for over a decade helping uplift black businesses and also help Utah companies to add more diversity. In fact, the Black Chamber of Commerce and Podium have joined forces to introduce a new online directory at www.utahblackpages.com
It was interesting to find our more about James growing up in Utah and finding out more about his father James Jackson Jr. who maintains cells towers throughout Utah. I have to admit my collaborator/videographer Ed and I were singing “Wichata Lineman” while we he was editing this story.
The story of “the original” James Jackson coming from Oklahoma to Utah in the 1950’s was intriguing. Did you know that segregation wasn’t just in the South? It was also in the West, including Utah.
It is clear that the patriarch of the family had a big impact of James number three. The loving way that James talked about his Grandfather and “Nana” and the connection they shared with their church was inspiring.
The church is where James became enamoured with public speaking. He is a man that is passionate about life and lives by the Bible verses he first spoke about in church at the age of twelve. Proverbs 3:5-6 “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.”
We talked about what I call, “a lot of noise from the left and a lot of noise from the right.” His reply makes you stop and think.
“We need to get in the position to where we are listening to understand instead of listening to respond. This something I’ve been preaching about for the last month. I’ve been talking to a bunch of companies and organizations and even a few police departments. We’ve been in this back and forth with these loud noises that you talk about right.
If you can imagine, these loud noises are separated by water. There are these bodies of land and we are shouting over water and with this bridge up. So all we’re doing. We are trying to share our message and they are trying to share their message back. We’re just having these walls. These barriers to all we are hitting is the back of that bridge.
What we need to do is listen to understand. The more that we understand the more that bridge starts to come down. And when that bridge comes down, you are going to find this ground that I like to call common ground. Where we can come together, share both of our perspectives still. But find the good out of each of those perspectives and out of those perspectives we can find solutions. So it’s not my vision. It’s not your vision. It’s now the right vision. It’s not the left vision. It’s a new vision that comes out of this so where we bring people together.”
Well said, James Jackson the Third. Well said.
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Years ago I met a woman with the most beautiful eyes, her name is Camille. I ended up marry her. The best thing that ever happened to me. Well recently she posted something on Facebook. I was going Camille, that’s good stuff. You ought to come on Jessop’s Journal and talk about it. She said something, and I’m not sure, maybe Ed can confirm this. Apparently, my wife says, not everyone wants to be on TV. Of course they do, right?
With her permission, I’m going to tell her story on camera. I also some personal experiences and observations that you’ll just have to watch the video to see.
To be on the safe side of getting her story right, here is Camille’s Facebook post verbatim:
“Back in the early 1980’s I was finishing up my college education. I was doing my “practicum”. I was one of the teachers of an early childhood education class. The class consisted of children, ages 3-5, of students at the university. These students were from all around the world. It was a wonderful experience to get to know these beautiful, innocent children. Their parents were from the United States, China, Korea, Japan, and many African nations. I was a newlywed living in on-campus housing. In our same housing complex was one of the little 3-year-old boys from our preschool. He soon discovered that we were neighbors and he would bring his 2-year-old sister to say “hi”. He was very shy, maybe because he was just learning English. He and his little sister were so sweet and absolutely adorable. I loved talking with them, or rather, I talked, and they smiled! I believe they were from Ethiopia. (I wish I remembered for sure). It was a fun experience working with all these children.
The children all played well together aside from the usual disagreements about who had what toy first and learning to share. Two little girls became best friends and wanted to sit by each other during circle time and snack time. They got along famously!
Nawatchee and Ashley (names changed) were from two different areas of the world. They loved to run and play together, and make things, hear stories together, and were the best of friends.
Then, after a long weekend everything changed. When we gathered for circle time Nawatchee hurried to sit by Ashley. Ashley stood up and announced she could no longer sit by Nawatchee and they were no longer friends. Nawatchee’s beautiful, sweet face crumbled into a sad, hurt, and confused expression. I’ll never forget that. My heart hurt. I said something like “we’re all friends here” but Ashley went on to say that she could no longer be friends or play with Nawatchee because her mom told her not to. Nawatchee was black.
Wow. These children did not even care what color any of them were. They were kids learning and playing and having fun, and then teachings of exclusion, bigotry, and hate were introduced by parents. Wow. The next time I met with my head teacher to discuss how things were going, I brought this up. I told her how shocking and upsetting it was to see parents doing that to children! But then this head teacher who I had looked up to and admired shocked me even more! She was visibly not happy with my reaction and told me that parents have the right to teach children their own beliefs. Parents absolutely should teach their children. But this?
I learned a lesson that summer. We still have a long way to go in treating each of our brothers and sisters kindly. Let’s be kind. We are all on this earth together. Innocent children get along until taught differently. Let’s be like innocent children.”
It was wrong then. It’s wrong now.
I don’t care if you are rich. I don’t care if you are poor. I don’t care what color of skin you. I don’t care what sexual orientation you have. I don’t care what religion you are or aren’t. The reality is that we have to get off this merry-go-round of hate. I don’t care if you are far left. I don’t care if you are far right. It doesn’t matter. The reality is just because someone disagrees with you doesn’t mean they are wrong. What do you think?
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Everyone has a story. I strongly feel that “stories have power”. Chances are that if you are going through something, that someone else probably has as well. The shared experiences we humans have can help each other. That my friend makes the point that stories “help us understand each other.”
You don’t have to agree with everyone, but in my opinion, if people would take more time getting to knowing more about others and where they are coming from, we just might find out that we have more similarities than differences.
Jessop’s Journal is something special when it comes to broadcast news. I have the honor of being able to do longer in-depth interviews that you don’t normally see with people from all walks of life. A big shout out goes to my collaborator, Ed Wilets, who does a great job as my videographer/editor for all my stories. Your feedback is always welcome at DJessop@abc4.com
It’s my honor to be able to share, Jessop’s Journal, a 30-minute collection of Powerful, Positive and Inspirational Stories every Sunday morning at 10 a.m. on ABC4 to all of Utah along with parts of Nevada, Idaho, Wyoming, Colorado and Arizona. Jessop’s Journal is also available worldwide at JessopsJournal.com.
With another entry into Jessop’s Journal, I’m Doug Jessop.
Jessop’s Journal is a copyrighted production of Fedora Incorporated and made possible by the generous support of XLEAR, Tatt2Away, Millcreek Gardens and LIFE Never Boring.
