Heart of The Cause
Activist turns her passions toward local campaigns.
By Christine Yee
At the Moonstar Restaurant on Market Street, Mabel Teng has just won the San
Francisco assessor race against long-time incumbent Doris Ward. Dignitaries,
such as the Chinese consul, are celebrating Teng's victory at the crowded restaurant
with her supporters and endorsers.
People line up to congratulate her at the microphone, as Teng invites Espanola
Jackson to the stage. Jackson representing District 10, the Bayview Hunters
Point neighborhood and the Southeast part of the city, congratulates Teng and
speaks of the winning campaign. As she finishes, the crowd stands up applauding
Jackson's effort on the campaign.
The applause lasts for nearly three full minutes. Like a gold-medalist with
her hands down to her side and a gracious smile, 69-year-old Jackson, a Bayview
Hunters Point resident since 1948, bows to each side. The cheer continues. The
common-held belief that District 10 was "Doris Ward country" was shattered
as supporters were assured that Jackson was right when she proclaimed that District
10 is "Espanola country." With Jackson's help, Teng carried the Bayview
Hunters Point majority.
The applause lasts for nearly
three full minutes. Like a gold-medalist with her hands down to her side
and a gracious smile, 69-year-old Jackson, a Bayview Hunters Point resident
since 1948, bows to each side. The cheer continues. The common-held belief
that District 10 was "Doris Ward country" was shattered as supporters
were assured that Jackson was right when she proclaimed that District
10 is "Espanola country." With Jackson's help, Teng carried
the Bayview Hunters Point majority.
Jackson's work has spanned a variety of projects and activism from welfare
and food stamps to the environment and sewage plant, and she still fights
today for Muwekma Ohlone Indians (she's a card-carrying member), the Navy
Shipyard, and a cleaner Islais Creek to name a few.
Welfare reform jump-started her activism career about 40 years ago.
Jackson found herself without much hope in the mid 60s -jobless and divorced
as a mother of six children. Although her mother assisted her as much
as possible, her only other option was welfare, which brought in $3,600
a year. Welfare was dehumanizing, according to Jackson. But one of her
social workers helped her find pride in herself and explained to her that
even poor people had rights. |
|
Photo by Moorea Morehart |
| Espanola Jackson was a major influence in several city election candidates
including Mable Teng who ran for and won the assessor's office. |
Helping becomes her work
She decided to help people realize what she had and achieve better welfare
options and transition to work. Her social work then evolved from a welfare
activist to the chair of the welfare rights movement in the neighborhood, from
California state president of the welfare movement to Board of Supervisor candidate,
amongst others.
Jackson has worked tirelessly supporting candidates who vow to help her community
and who will advocate for her neighborhood. She has never stopped. One can see
her accomplishments in the 20 or so plaques and certificates that line the hallway
of her home from senators, mayors, and supervisors to assemblymen and community
organizations. She had black and white photocopies of a 1992 USA Weekend story
in which then-Vice President Dan Quayle named her as one of the three people
he most admired. The Southeast facility on Phelps and Oakdale is another testament
to her dedication and activism for her neighborhood.
Jackson's framed 8X10 photo is one of six hanging on the wall at the entrance
to the Southeast Facility, as she was one of the original six commissioners
of the facility. Jackson was on the advisory council that fought to build the
Southeast facility, which houses a satellite campus of City College today, in
exchange for the expansion of the sewage plant. When the city wanted to give
the neighborhood a park for its acceptance of a larger sewage plant, Jackson
and her colleagues loudly opposed the idea. Their struggle finally brought the
community the Southeast Facility at 1800 Oakdale and a city ordinance establishing
a commission for the facility.
"We didn't want an advisory board," said friend and fellow activist
Shirley Jones, who is often called Jackson's protégé. "We
wanted a commission like the rest of them in the city."
Their fight and hard work paid off when the Southeast Facility Commission
was created in 1987 by city ordinance. Jackson and Jones both served on the
first commission. Jones, who is the director of the California Association for
Health Education, Employment and Dignity, which Jackson co-founded 30 years
ago, learned from Jackson as they fought next to each other.
"The things that (Jackson) believes in, she fights for ... I learned
how to take chances," Jones said. "Espanola has always been there
for me to promote me and to tell me that I can do it."
A second mom
Today Jones lives around the corner from Jackson off of Ingalls and keeps
very close contact with her. To Jackson, Jones is her baby, one of her many
children around the Bayview Hunter's Point area, although Jones is not much
younger than she is. Jackson was once Jones' Sunday school teacher at the Providence
Baptist Church.
From the beginning of her activist career, she has constantly been around
younger people trying to train leaders. In the '60s, University of California,
Berkeley students volunteered for her to help in the welfare movement. Most
of the students were Jewish, Jackson remembered, but they were still her children.
She still keeps in touch with most of them. Her neighborhood youth, some who
are in their 40s today, are applying the lessons that Jackson has taught them.
"Espanola genuinely has the community's best interest at heart,"
said Kevin Williams, who works for the Department of Human Rights for the city
and county of San Francisco. On a daily basis, he implements what Jackson, a
close friend of his mother, has taught him. And to make sure he does, Jackson
calls Williams every day between 7:30 and 8 in the morning, to tell him to do
his best no matter what and to remember that she loves him. Williams, whose
mother passed away in 1995, said that he has been able to look to Jackson as
his surrogate mother.
Jackson has been successful in her work, because of her down-to-earth spirit
and no bull attitude, according to Williams. "She uses affection and love
in her work even with her adversaries. She wins her adversaries with basic communication:
eye contact, touch, and telling the truth," said Williams, adding charisma
and confidence as admirable traits that Jackson possesses.
Better to have her on your side
She can hardly contain her excitement for her projects, such as the Muwekma
Ohlone and Islais Creek. Though she's a few inches more than five feet tall,
she doesn't let her stature allow one to ignore her. She will jump up from her
chair and throw her hands up to drive a point home and emphasize her words with
flailing hands and a shake of her head. She's ready to reenact the walk she
did 40 years ago while on television or the same tone of voice and body language
she used when she talked to the mayor less than a year ago.
She's a good person to have on one's side, her friends said. More often now,
politicians are courting Jackson for her endorsement of propositions and candidates.
Vote No on Proposition D fliers had Jackson's photo and statement on it; she
was one of four chosen community activists. Jackson remembers that Teng didn't
believe that she could win over District 10, but many community members call
Jackson the Mayor of District 10 for a reason.
