Mayoral Election, 1987

Transcript (Download)

Everybody's to have a night at one time.

Everybody's to have a night at one time.

The mayor's administrative assistant for financial affairs, Lucille Doblin.

The mayor's administrative assistant for financial affairs, Lucille Doblin.

Mayor, mayor, mayor, mayor.

Hey, you got a house! You ready to have a small trip? You got a friend down there? You got a friend down there? I live with him.

You know I have a friend down there? You got a friend down there? The mayor's administrative assistant for financial affairs, Lucille Doblin.

The mayor's administrative assistant for financial affairs, Lucille Doblin.

Because this city is represented by the person who is the embodiment of the sesquicentennial spirit.

The I will spirit of this city is now represented by its chief executive, the mayor of the city of Chicago, Harold Washington.

Thank you very much, all of you.

This presentation, Mr.

Mayor, is to the people of Chicago.

And this presentation...

Who is the conductor of the line and hearing arts, Clifford Wolfe? Is Clifford here to sing him a big round of applause? To the left.

Happy birthday to you.

Happy birthday to you.

Happy birthday to Chicago.

Happy birthday to you.

Ladies and gentlemen, your day will be just a day.

And so much heat that we see being sliced here, the mayor's staff will be casting out...

I'm an old cake cutter.

I'm an old cake cutter.

I don't care about that.

Nobody knows that.

Elbow, elbow, elbow.

That's it? Oh, wait, Wolfe.

I just spelled Wolfe.

That's well with it.

Get a little bit of that ice cream.

Haven't got this close.

We've got to say it.

Oh, you shouldn't say this.

I'm going to have a piece of the other cake.

Happy birthday to you.

Happy birthday to you.

Happy birthday to you.

Happy birthday to you.

Happy birthday to you.

Happy birthday to you.

Happy birthday to you.

Happy birthday to you.

Happy birthday to you.

Happy birthday to you.

Happy birthday to you.

Happy birthday to you.

Happy birthday to you.

Happy birthday to you.

Happy birthday to you.

We're not going to change anything.

All right, it's the same message all over again.

That's the same question that we got the first time we showed in our commercial viewing what you guys like to call the negative commercials.

I mean, for me, my MaP position was that what's negative? You're telling the truth about your opponent.

Now, if telling the truth is negative, then it's negative.

But our immediate plan from the beginning is that we would start off really highlighting what the mayor's done.

And then we would move into the comparison, where the mayor is versus where his chief opponent was.

And that's held true.

I mean, we got the message out there for the first two weeks after the general election.

We're doing a couple of things.

One, letting him rest and re -energize himself.

And two, continue to say, with the thank you commercials we put on the air right after the election, they're saying, we now have the folks of the city of Chicago have really decided that they're into the new versus old, that we wanted to move forward rather than go back to the politics of the past.

And now, we've got to start comparing here in Washington with these other candidates.

I mean, the other major party candidate, as well as the aberrant candidates, in terms of who they are and what they represent.

To define these people in terms of where their campaigns are, where they're running.

I mean, our tag team of Verdogne, Eckenhine.

I mean, folks just need to have an understanding as to what's going on.

And so that's what we're going to be doing.

This is a much shorter campaign than the first one.

So that we've already put out who the mayor is.

We've tried to define him.

We've tried to point out his...

The thing he had to do most often was keep responding to the press.

Because I think there is a double standard, so to speak.

He would get questions like, why don't you go to the Northwest side? Anybody else daily, why do you even go to the Southeast side? I mean, it's constantly having to defend himself from really questions that are irrelevant.

And particularly that one truth.

I mean, the thing is that he has gone to the Northwest side just like he's gone to the Southeast side.

But it's a matter of what do you see on the 10 o 'clock news? And 10 o 'clock news would show him on the Southeast side.

It wouldn't show him on the Northwest side.

So I mean, it's...

Because you threatened his power.

He's an ultimate.

He's not the mayor.

I mean, see, I think part of the difficulty that's gone on is constantly responding to Virgil Yacos is like co -equal of the mayor of the city of Chicago.

I mean, the guy is an alderman, all right? The same as 49 other people.

And he was set up mainly by the media to be something above the station.

And that's what went on for four years.

But what I'm saying is that I'm not so sure.

My name is Jackie Grimshaw.

Currently, I am the deputy campaign manager for Mayor Washington.

Chicago, as you know, a more proper...

That may be the right place.

I want you to...

How are you? Good, yeah.

I want you to see the world.

I want you to see the world.

I want you to see the world.

Oh, my God! Oh, my God! Oh, my God! Packing up.

Oh, my God! Nice buttons.

Oh, my God! Hey, Ed.

Bye! The mayor of the city of Chicago has been in the 22nd war no less than three times, taking care of business.

And most of all, we are appreciative that he's here with very good news for our 22nd war.

So we bring him out...

I'm back with that question.

I'll be telling you if you don't believe this, now I know that you get a lot from the private sector and the city.

Not just this one, but the whole city.

You'll also mention Sanitation War, and I became the commissioner on September 1, 1980, class of 1980.

Together, we got it done.

And the mayor told me, John, I'll be the city.

The president of all of the city and the city.

Roll it to the rim.

Turn it around, it's easier.

Turn around? Turn around, you can back it up.

Back it up, it's easier.

Come here, I'll show you how to do it.

You turn around, you can pull around.

Put it in the rubber coat there.

Yeah! I'm going to show you how to lift it.

Put it in the rubber like that, and then the wheel's lifted for me.

Got it going there? I'm going to have some fun with it.

Everybody set? $22 ,000 a year.

That much? Yes, sir.

Give him an application.

It's all the way up.

It must have both arms to everyone within its borders.

The Muslim community in this city, as before dated, is a powerful community.

It's a strongly religious community.

It is a highly ethical community.

It is a very skilled community.

It represents a deep team and a serene culture that breeds equanimity and is good for this city.

It has a reservoir of talent in it that any mayor would give food in not to reach in to and flunk.

It has been the misfortune of this city that certain leaders in the past have not seen that simple food.

They have not taken the trouble to simply look at you, to talk to you, to express their feelings to you, to try to understand you, to know they just blackly went ahead with their own singularity of purpose, which in no way included what you have to offer.

It's a crying shame that such talent has been wasted with the life and talent here in this city for all these years.

You say that you make no demand of one leader of this city.

I have the respect to submit to you that you have a right to make demands of all the leaders of this city.

And that right is to be included in this city from top to bottom and everything that's involved.

Allah Akbar! Allah Akbar! Allah Akbar! I think I'll say thanks.

Maximum police protection be given to everybody in those communities.

And we're hearing many complaints from your community to the effect that you're not getting fair treatment and fair surveillance.

Just a word of thanks to the mayor.

Thank you, Your Honor, for coming to the conference.

We'd like to just offer a small gift from the Muslim community as a token, as a star, to the re -election campaign fund for the honorable Mayor of Washington of $1 ,500.

And we will have the fundraising, we will have later on fundraising dinner.

Who was you with that lady that was here? Well, we are walking, as you would call it, marching for the better conditions in the CHA.

You have 101 ,000 people living in the CHA.

More people living in the CHA than there is in the city of Springfield.

And we demand that justice be given to these people.

The people in the CHA have been misused and abused by every mayor we had for the last past 40 years.

They use them for political problems.

And the people in the CHA, we are tired of suffering, come hell or high water, regardless of what color it may be, we are going to be free in the CHA.

Yes, it may be black enough to spit tar, white enough to spit snow, but we demand freedom now.

We are going on the rest of the first of March.

There is not no mayor, Mayor Burns can't help the city.

Washington can't help it.

Or Dually, I can't help it.

We need people in the city hall that can bring all the God people together.

We don't need judges like Eugene Pedge, I think that all blacks should be long if they didn't vote for hair wash.

Identifier

F.2005-08-0193

Date Of Production

1987

Abstract

The footage features different segments offering a look into Chicago's 1987 mayoral election, featuring Harold Washington on the campaign trail, an interview with his deputy campaign manager Jacky Grimshaw, and footage also capturing Edward Vrdolyak, alongside a few others.

Description

Film begins with footage of Edward Vrdolyak of the Illinois Solidarity Party and his supporters making their way through Wrigley Field. This is followed by a sequence showing a crowd of people surrounding Harold Washington at a CTA stop, cheering in support of his candidacy.

Next is a segment depicting the unveiling of a sculpture of Washington, and a brief discussion with the sculptor. A few disparate glimpses of other public appearances and speeches made by Washington are shown, followed by an event celebrating the "birthday" of Chicago wherein the mayor cuts a cake in honor of the occasion (March 4th is the date shown on the cake).

The subsequent scene is a brief interview between the filmmaker and Jacky Grimshaw who served as the deputy campaign manager for Washington in which she discusses media relations, and Vrdolyak's attacks against the mayor.

The scene switches to John Huss Methodist Church where Mayor Wahshington can be seen asssiting sanitiation services with garbage collection.

Following this, Washington is shown speaking to the Muslim League of Voters, USA, at a mosque during which one of the community leaders offers a gift to the mayor's reelection campaign of $1500. An announcement is also made regarding a fundraising dinner the mosque will conduct to help raise money for the reelection efforts.

This is followed by footage of election night at Navy Pier, showing supporters of the mayor holding signs waiting for the results.

The reel ends with protestors at City Hall on LaSalle Street marching for better conditions at the CHA (the Chicago Housing Authority).

Run Time

0:27:33

Format

Super 8

Extent

400 feet

Color

Color

Sound

Mag Stripe

Reel/Tape Number

1/1

Has Been Digitized?

Yes

Language Of Materials

English

Element

Reversal Positives

Subject

Chicago (Ill.)
History
African Americans
Political campaigns
Political elections
Politicians
Politics and government
Religious services
Political Activists
Events
Parades and processions
Cityscapes
City and town life

Related Collections

Subseries II: Footage

Related Places

North America ➜ United States ➜ Illinois ➜ Chicago

Main Credits

Stamets, Bill (is filmmaker)

Participants And Performers

Washington, Harold (is participant)

Smith, Mary Ella (is participant)

Vrdolyak, Edward (is participant)

Jacky Grimshaw (is participant)

Lucille Dobbins (is participant)

Jackson, Jesse, 1941-2026 (is participant)

Don King (is participant)

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