Hesed House Executive Director Joe Jackson’s visit this week to Washington, D.C., had a few surreal moments sure to stay with him forever.
One was, of course, entering the House chamber of the Capitol as the guest of U.S. Rep. Bill Foster, D-Naperville, for President Donald Trump’s address to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday evening
Just walking into that magnificent room, where so much history – not to mention pomp and circumstance – has played out for generations was “an honor,” he said Thursday afternoon.
The second surreal moment? Sitting a mere 10 seats away from Elon Musk, who is wielding the axe that is cutting government funding, including a whopping 84% to HUD’s Office of Community Planning and Development that, as Jackson pointed out, offers rental assistance, mental health and substance abuse assistance, disaster recovery funding and programs that help communities like Aurora build affordable housing.
Plenty of politics are at play, of course. But even though Jackson’s Congressional host and other Illinois Democrats seem powerless to this administration’s slash and burn approach to the federal budget, Jackson was, nevertheless, buoyed by this D.C. visit. In large part, that’s because the trip also included meeting with other Illinois legislators who he described as “so incredibly knowledgeable and adept” when it comes to the critical issues of homelessness and affordable housing.
While the housing crisis was not addressed in Trump’s speech, nor did Jackson get a chance to speak to any Republican legislators during this visit, he is convinced lawmakers are aware of the crisis and that there are “opportunities for all of us in these types of roles to talk to anyone and everyone we can about how dire the situation is.”
Jackson is referring to the fact that for the past two years, our country has seen double digit percentage increases in homelessness, which, he insisted, “puts us on an unsustainable course.”
In addition to meetings with lawmakers, including a gathering of them and their guests in Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin’s office before the speech, Jackson also met for an hour or two with the press, where he was able to talk about his front row seat to this crisis that has been particularly hard on families in the Fox Valley.
Later, as he entered the chamber and took a seat – just 10 away from Musk and others in the president’s gallery – Jackson couldn’t help but look around at all the prestige and power (not to mention money) and ask, “How did I ever get here?”
Of course, as anyone watching the speech or reading about it the day after knew, things got more than a little lively.
Jackson described the event as ranging from “surreal to pure chaos,” the latter of which started almost immediately when a Republican lawmaker ripped a sign from the hands of a Democrat and “paper went flying in the air as the president walked down the aisle,” recalled Jackson.
“The tension in the room was palpable,” he added, noting that when Texas Rep. Al Green began disrupting Trump’s speech at its beginning, “I thought, if this is how it starts, what will happen over the next hour?”
While there certainly was plenty of disagreement over what the president said, Jackson “took it all in” with no visible emotion, unlike the guest of a California lawmaker seated next to him who got up and left the chamber in protest.
Foster too, politely listened, said Jackson, noting that after a “very long night” – the president’s speech ran an hour and 40 minutes – the Illinois congressman was back at work early the next day.
Jackson too was back in the trenches when we spoke on Thursday, grateful for this unique opportunity to represent the residents, staff, volunteers and supporters of Hesed House in Aurora.
“An influencer asked me what side, the Democrats or Republicans, are better at tackling homelessness,” Jackson recalled. “I told her that, like childhood cancer, this is not a one-side-of-the-aisle issue. We need everyone to come together because those affected by it are human beings.
“We need to put our differences aside and collaborate and get to reasonable solutions. Otherwise the suffering will continue.”
That statement, perhaps, is why Jackson tucked into the breast pocket of his suit that day two prayer cards: One was from the memorial service for Hesed House founder Sister Rose Marie Lorentzen, who died in December and was a tireless advocate for the homeless.
The other card was from the funeral of his Grandma Joyce, who taught Jackson to “always see the good in people, even those he disagreed with.”
Including the man sitting 10 seats away.
Only by “recognizing the humanity in the people who make those decisions,” said Jackson, can we “create dialogue and change mindsets.”
dcrosby@tribpub.com
