A Few Words from Mr. Wade Jackson:From the NPM/PJ Archive

Surprisingly enough, the article that I wrote about Mr. Wade  in the last Vanguard, actually was well received by the public. I am always please  to help an individual such as Mr. Wade to get his opinion and concerns out.

As he requested, here is the second article I wrote about Mr. Wade in the North Philly Metropolis, when he began to really voice his concerns about the unfortunate violence in Philadelphia.

A few words from Mr. Wade Jackson

Transcribed by Peak Johnson

Hello, my name is Wade Jackson, I was featured in an interview in the State of Education issue of the North Philly Metropolis and the topic that I would like to talk about today is drawn to all the millionaires and billionaires of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. I take my hats off to you for all the good deeds you have done for charities, but I feel as though that you’re not doing enough as far as all of the poor communities throughout Philadelphia. We have a lot of crime that shouldn’t be happening, I know with the youth that it’s basically a lack of education, but they need things to do too. For example, all of these abandon houses throughout Philadelphia, why don’t ya’ll take these houses and turn them into something like, a reading school, an art school, a religious school, and on and on as far as education. Because you have some kids who cannot afford catholic school, their parents are poor, so you can put these kinds of things in the neighborhood so they can learn.

And this could be a tax write off, like you do your charities because Center City as I know it, all of those condos are being built for you, the only thing that you all are doing are building condos, showing that the rich is for the rich. Center City is nothing but a camouflage, because when all of the people from around the world come for their tours in Philly where do they go? But they don’t come down to the deep part of Philly to see the city, why? Because they know we are poor in these sections, it’s dirty in these sections and it embarrassing to you rich folk.

Why not take the kids that are in these poor communities and pay them every two weeks to keep their neighborhoods clean, their alley ways, this could go all year long and all of Philadelphia could be clean because the Center City district does a great job. The workers do a great job cleaning up Center City as you can see, so I would like to see that happening in the poor sections.

Everyone whose building condos and building those new houses down at Girard avenue, I would like too see all of you down at the convention center and have a meeting about spreading your money throughout Philadelphia. I want to bring up a person that I love very dearly and she’s a great woman and she’s not a millionaire, her name is Sister Mary Scullion and she lives in the heart of North Philly on the 1900 block of North Judson Street. She took the Honickman Learning Center and Comcast Technology Labs and got it built from the ground with all these education courses, after school programs, computer courses, she has it all and she has people with a lot of money, millionaires, to invest. This building has saved some of the youth that are out here lives from not going to jail or being dead.

If she can pull this together in this poor community, why can’t you millionaires and billionaires do this throughout Philadelphia, you should learn from her. She’s not trying to get condos built downtown for the rich, she believes in helping the poor people because that’s where the real help is needed. You can write checks with a certain sum like its nothing, but it’s rough in the ghetto, you probably never really lived in the ghetto or really work a hard day in your life, you don’t know what its like to scrub floors and wash windows, you don’t know what it’s about because you have nothing, but money.

I’m glad you give to charities, but the poor communities need your help and Center City could be really clean through you, again take some of these houses and turn them into something that the youth can use or work in, you’ll still be making money and its still a tax write off for you.  Have you ever thought of that?

Sure this is a poor community, sure you live in a rich community, but it’s bad in a way because the poor are forgotten about. Look at King Midas for example, money was his God, but when he died his money stayed behind. God designed this world in different ways for you to be a millionaire, for it to be poor people, middle class people, and people like millionaires and billionaires, but the poor communities need your help. Sure, Bill Cosby got an education and gave to charities, but when did he come onto our corners and talk to these kids with guns and drugs and said I’m going to take some of these houses around and make some things happen to help you, he never did it.

 Learn from Sister Mary Scullion and all of the achievements that she has done with help from other people, even Jon Bon Jovi donated money to help with the housing developments that are happening for low income people that hardly have anything. I’d like you all to have a meeting at the convention center and let Sister Mary be at the table, maybe she can teach all of you something.

The key to the crime is not lock everybody up and putting them in jail because if we put all of the young generation in jail, its going to be the little kids and the seniors living out in the street. Why is all the crime going on because the youth have nothing to do. All of you are taking it away, you’re letting these poor communities go down and letting Center City go up and before you know it only the rich will be allowed there to shop because from what I’m seeing the poor people are slowly getting flushed out, it shouldn’t be that way. We should all live as one.

All of you should come out to these poor communities to sit down and talk to these people about what you’re going to do to make it better so that crime will go down, but make something happen with all of these houses that are vacant, so they can have something to do. If you can keep Center City clean, why not the poor sections? I hear people downtown say all the time, boy Center City is clean, but if only they knew the truth of how all of you camouflage the whole thing, if only they knew.

 It use to be that when people who were incarcerated before they came home had a job waiting, but that was stopped and I don’t think it’s fair. I feel as though that when you’ve been incarcerated it that there  should be a job available for you when you come home like it use to be so they can come out working, so they won’t have to get in trouble when they come out when trying to feed their families.

See, a lot of you who are rich have never been through something like that and you never will because you have so much money to throw away that it’s unbelievable. Look at Bill Gates whose a millionaire, he’s giving away from millions and millions and I commend him for that, it shows that he’s not selfish. But I know it’s a lot of selfish millionaires out there just for self and when its time for you to leave this earth your millions is still going to be here. But are you doing what God has asked you instead of giving to charities, that’s something to think about. That’s why God put you on this earth, to help people because the same why you got your millions God can take it back, you might soon be in a poor community, that’s something to think about. Just because you’re millionaire does not make you’re better than anyone else.

So you millionaires and billionaires take the first step and help the poor communities. Revitalize some of these houses, do something for the homeless and give them a chance. People have turned their backs on them and slammed the door in their faces, but not Sister Mary. Her door is always open, she’ll give the last off her back to make sure someone has something to wear to stay warm, that’s the kind of person she is and I love her and I’d do anything in the world for her because she’s a great, great, great women and I mean that from the bottom of my heart.

Because you have millions, don’t make you better than anybody else and trust me because when God does come we will all be judged, do you know where you’re going when judgment day comes? Your money can’t go with you, just remember that.

Thank you.

After this informative outlook on our neighborhood, Mr. Wade prepared for another one of his brutal races, here’s what he had to say about it.

I just recently ran the Broad street run, Sunday May 6, 2007, it was 17, 833 people that ran that race. It started at Broad and Olney and all they way to the navy yard and that was a very brutal long run. I did the race in one hour and 16 minutes in one second and we were getting it in. Before the race, I had a chance to talk to the Kenyans when they were warming up at Central high school and I asked them how they ran and everything and they replied by telling me about the ten thousand altitude that they run. And they say that Americans don’t have anywhere where we can run the altitude at except maybe Valley Green. They’re the best in the world and my goal is to beat the best, to be the best you have to beat the best, and I’m not going to rest until I beat the best unless my leg fall off while I’m running. You had people of all ages running out there and everyone was getting down there and having fun, it was a peaceful run and we were all like family.

We’d like to give a huge apology to Mr. Wade, in the last interview it stated that he ran 100 yard dash in 60 seconds, Mr. Wade is much quicker than that, he actually runs a 100 yard dash in 16 seconds.

Check out issue 10 where this and other great articles were first published, or you can read the previous articles about Wade Jackson by going to the Mr. Wade page.