Jerome Gray, Oral History
Title
Jerome Gray, Oral History
Subject
Politics
Description
Jerome Gray, an Obama field organizer in Alabama for the 08’ campaign and an activist with the Alabama Democratic Conference, an old Black political organization still in existence. Interviewed on air at WJLD studios, Birmingham.
Creator
Bob Friedman
Jerome Gray
Publisher
Birmingham Black Radio Museum
Date
August 02, 2008
Contributor
Joe Wright
Emily Bibb
Format
MP3
JPG
PDF
Language
English
Identifier
GrayOH
Interviewer
Bob Friedman
Interviewee
Jerome Gray
Location
WJLD, Birmingham, Alabama
Transcription
Transcription of audio snippet:
Jerome Gray: ...Well in 84’ no question Jesse Jackson was acceptable. He did not have a track record as an elected official but he had track record as an activist and advocate for our issues. The electability question was the thing that loomed large in ADC but one of the things I did then as state field director I polled our members our leaders from round the state because I said to Joe Reed at least we need to find out what people are thinking before we go to the convention and I polled our delegation our members around the state and the majority of them members who found Jesse Jackson acceptable did not think he was electable in 1984 and pretty much that’s how it split out you know in the vote but at least people at the opportunity to discuss and debate and the decision before the recommendation was made to endorse Mondale but even though we took the position that we would support Mondale because of his acceptability and what we thought then was his electability and track record. Mondale only carried one state in 84’, Minnesota and he carried Washington, DC the District of Columbia so Jesse couldn’t have done much worse than Mondale did..
Bob Friedman: How’d..
JG: Even though Mondale had been the Vice President..
B: How about that..
JG: Since that time the Alabama Democratic Conference has supported other candidates for President..
B: Did they support..
JG: Al Gore..
B: Reverend Jackson..
JG: John Kerry, Michael Dukakis. They all lost.
B: Yeah did they support Reverend Jackson in 88’?
JG: We did support Reverend Jackson in 88’. But I was mentioning the fact that the others we had supported other white candidates since 84’ who did not win but we did support Jesse Jackson in 88’ as an organization and he ran well in the south but he did not win nationwide but the thing that got my attention was Barack Obama. The first quarter after he announced his candidacy. He raised more money in one quarter than Jesse Jackson raised during his whole run for President. And so that got my attention when I saw how competitive was right out of the block against the Clintons.
Jerome Gray: ...Well in 84’ no question Jesse Jackson was acceptable. He did not have a track record as an elected official but he had track record as an activist and advocate for our issues. The electability question was the thing that loomed large in ADC but one of the things I did then as state field director I polled our members our leaders from round the state because I said to Joe Reed at least we need to find out what people are thinking before we go to the convention and I polled our delegation our members around the state and the majority of them members who found Jesse Jackson acceptable did not think he was electable in 1984 and pretty much that’s how it split out you know in the vote but at least people at the opportunity to discuss and debate and the decision before the recommendation was made to endorse Mondale but even though we took the position that we would support Mondale because of his acceptability and what we thought then was his electability and track record. Mondale only carried one state in 84’, Minnesota and he carried Washington, DC the District of Columbia so Jesse couldn’t have done much worse than Mondale did..
Bob Friedman: How’d..
JG: Even though Mondale had been the Vice President..
B: How about that..
JG: Since that time the Alabama Democratic Conference has supported other candidates for President..
B: Did they support..
JG: Al Gore..
B: Reverend Jackson..
JG: John Kerry, Michael Dukakis. They all lost.
B: Yeah did they support Reverend Jackson in 88’?
JG: We did support Reverend Jackson in 88’. But I was mentioning the fact that the others we had supported other white candidates since 84’ who did not win but we did support Jesse Jackson in 88’ as an organization and he ran well in the south but he did not win nationwide but the thing that got my attention was Barack Obama. The first quarter after he announced his candidacy. He raised more money in one quarter than Jesse Jackson raised during his whole run for President. And so that got my attention when I saw how competitive was right out of the block against the Clintons.
Original Format
MP3
Duration
Full interview: 45 minutes
Audio snippet: 2 minutes
Audio snippet: 2 minutes
Files
Collection
Citation
Bob Friedman and Jerome Gray, “Jerome Gray, Oral History,” The Birmingham Black Radio Museum, accessed October 5, 2024, https://www.thebbrm.org/item/44.
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