DuringBarack Obama‘s eight years in the White House, there was one influential senior adviser above all others to whom the president turned—Valerie Jarrett.
Jarrett, 61, involved in nearly every decision that Obama made, was much more than a political adviser. “The president has said she’s his best friend,” said CBS News’Norah O’Donnell, who profiled Jarrett for60 Minutesa year ago.
Jarrett, now a board member of the ride-sharing app Lyft, was thrust back into the national spotlight Tuesday afterRoseanne Barrposted a racist tweet likening Jarrett to an “ape.”
Hours later and following a massive outcry on Twitter, ABCcancelled Barr’s hit showRoseanne.
Jarrettsaid Tuesday afternoonthat ABC made the right call in cancelling the show and hoped for more dialogue on the reality of racism.
“First of all, I think we have to turn it into a teaching moment. I’m fine,” Jarrett said during atown hall on MSNBCcalled “Everyday Racism in America.” “I’m worried about all the people out there who don’t have a circle of friends and followers coming to their defense.”
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Jarrett’s close friendship with Obama, who has not publicly commented on the controversy, goes back more than 25 years.
Barack Obamaand Jarrett became close in 1991, soon after Michelle interviewed for a law job with Jarrett, a lawyer and deputy chief of staff for Chicago mayor Richard M. Daley. The interview went so well with Michelle, a recent Harvard law graduate, that a few days later Jarrett offered her a position.
“I called her up and I said, “Well, what do you think? We’d love to have you.” And she said, “Well, my fiancé doesn’t actually think it’s such a great idea,” Jarrett told 60 Minutes. “And I said, “What?” And so she said, “Yeah, that’s right.” So she said, “But I really am interested. So would you be willing to have dinner with us?”
Over dinner, Jarrett andBarack Obamacreated an instant bond due to their childhoods spent overseas—Obama in Indonesia and Jarrett in Iran where she was born and would spend her first five years. Her father, a doctor, had helped start a new hospital there.
“And I will tell you, they are the same in terms of their core values, their commitment to public service. That was before the president was even in the state Senate,” Jarrett recalled in an interivew with The Real.
Michelle Obamatook the job with the city, and the Obamas even ended up buying a house a block from Jarrett in Chicago.
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Family Legacy of Battling Racism
Jarrett’s family involves several generations making a mark in American history.
Her great-grandfather Robert Robinson Taylor is believed to be the first African-American graduate of MIT and the country’s first accredited African-American architect, according to 60 Minutes.
Her mother, Barbara Taylor Bowman, is a distinguished early childhood education expert for whom a Chicago street is named. Her father, Dr. James Bowman, Jr., was a groundbreaking pathologist and geneticist.
Jarrett recalled to60 Minuteshow as a resident at St. Luke’s Hospital in Chicago, her father was not allowed to enter the front door due to the color of his skin.
The incident shaped Jarrett’s belief that “you have to stand up for yourself. And just because somebody says no doesn’t mean that you have to listen. You can do what you think is right. And I think both of my parents were trailblazers in that respect.”
Into Her Own
Jarrett did her undergraduate work at Stanford and received her law degree from the University of Michigan. In 1983, she married a childhood friend, William Robert Jarrett, a doctor and the son ofChicago Sun-Timescolumnist Vernon Jarrett.
The couple had a daughter, Laura, before divorcing in 1988. (Jarrett’s ex-husband died in 1993 from a heart attack. Laura, a Harvard law school grad, isnow a CNN reporter.)
She then helda series of positionsunder Mayor Daley. Jarrett was also Commissioner of the Planning and Development sector of Chicago city. Before leaving Chicago for the White House, she was CEO of the Habitat Co., a real estate management and development firm in Chicago.
During Jarrett’s tenure in the Obama White House, she was described asBarack Obama’s greatest defender. She is also the only White House advisor known to have joined the president in his private residence following a day’s work.
“Her position is that during the day she is staff, and at night she is a friend, and she clearly delineates between those two roles,” Anita Dunn, a former White House communications director, who remains a close Jarrett friend,toldThe Washington Postin 2014.
During her eight years in the administration, Jarrett championed equal rights for women and girls as chair of the White House Counsel on Women and Girls. She was also Obama’s assistant for intergovernmental affairs and public engagement.
In Obama’s second term, Jarrett helped write executive actions on gun control and immigration, championed the administration’s efforts to raise the minimum wage across the country and to expand paid parental leave. She also pushed for criminal justice reform — one of the few areas where the president found bipartisan support.
Since leaving the White House in 2017, Jarrett has continued her work promoting women and girls through theUnited State of Women (USOW) Summit. She is also aboard member of the ride-sharing app, Lyft.
source: people.com
