Mack looks back on a life of activism, civic pride

Mack’s desk is covered with papers, invitations and notes to herself. She and her husband, Eddie have lived in her home on Grant Street in North Central San Mateo since 1954.

She was born and reared less than a mile away.

“The house at 34 N. Fremont is no longer there,” she says. “But this is still my community, my home.”

Many know Mack as an outspoken activist. She is the spokeswoman and advocate for community rights.

“My parents, grandmother and grandfather – who was a slave – were activists,” she says. “My grandfather, who heard about the Emancipation Proclamation years after it was passed, just walked off the plantation. That took guts. He knew what he had, but he didn’t know what he was getting.”

Mack’s father was a member of the NAACP. He was a meat cutter and activist. “But he found the American dream elusive,” says Mack. He joined the Communist party based on promises to the Black man. They kept very few, if any. I still find the American dream elusive, but I’m always trying.”

“I really loved this area while I was growing up. My reality was a mixed neighborhood. Italians next door, Japanese across the street, Chinese, Mexican, Caucasian. But we were all Americans.”

There were traditions in those days. On Thanksgiving, families would put the turkey in the oven and head to the San Mateo-Burlingame High School’s Football game.

“Everyone you knew was at the game. It was the big county activity. We’d also have parades. I miss those activities.” Mack says. “There’s no sense of community anymore. I’m lucky though. I live on a block that is cohesive. People car. My family believed that when you head that something was wrong, you fixed it.”

Mack’s life is about fixing. She spends more time on the telephone than any ten people – trying to feed the hungry and find jobs for those who need them. In the process, she has found many detractors.

“I never know if people are coming at me because I’m a woman, African-American or they just don’t like me, the person.” She says seriously. “I’ve been active for over forty years and I still don’t know.”

“I always knew I wanted to do something important. I came from a long line of people who didn’t want to be taken care of, but to do for themselves.” Mack’s mother died when she was twelve and school became the least of her priorities. “Lucky I didn’t end up an addict, alcoholic or pregnant,” she says.

When Mack got married she thought she’d be a housewife who stayed home and took care of the children. “I had to ask my husband for money and to use the car. ‘No! I can’t do that,’ I said, so I got a job.” Mack cleaned houses. “I wasn’t treated very well. I knew I had to go to school to get a profession.”

She went to the old campus of College of San Mateo and met John Turner, a teacher. “¬¬He liked my writing, and I realized I wasn’t the dumbest person in the world.”

Mack then went to Antioch College in San Francisco. Her husband Eddie did diapers and housework while she studied. “He spoiled the girls rotten,” says Mack. “But he did what I did, all of it,” she says with admiration.

The Macks have three daughters: Vicki has a Grammy Award-winning recording company in Los Angeles, Kelli is a dentist and a captain in the Air Force, and Lesli is an event planner in Sunnyvale. The Macks have two grandchildren. “We wanted our girls to be successful and they are,” she says proudly.

“In the Sixties, all the reporters were white and all the black women I knew who were articulate did it in church…I knew there had to be a different role for me. I decided to become a reporter. Mack got a job at KGO TV through Affirmative Action.

“It gave me a chance,” she says. Later, Mack worked at KCSM radio and television for thirty years. “I was asked to retire in a very nice way. I was getting long in the tooth, and I knew it,” she says. Mack has not really retired.

Her phone rings constantly, entreating her to do this and that. She gets major complaints and just as many accolades from the people in San Mateo.

“When it’s all over, I want people to believe I was good for the City of San Mateo. I don’t just want to make the team, I want to be on a winning team. I really try to do the best for the people I represent. Right now, I’m just like Tiger Woods, I want to win every time I get up.”