Wilson, 68, and stunning as ever is still thriving and performing. Her current tour is a tribute to the legendary Lena Horne, in which she performed at the Miller Outdoor Theatre the same night she spoke to an auditorium of Yates students.
The songstress sat down with The Sun, JY Alumni Reunite Committee and a group of Yates journalism students before her lecture for a round of questions. When The Sun asked Wilson about her works with HIV/AIDS, Wilson was all for active work and compassion.
“I’ve had lots of friends who have passed from this disease and I have travel extensively in the African countries. This illness is of a huge magnitude and it’s incurable,” said Wilson. “We as human beings have to do as much as we can to help. Every little bit helps. Everybody is important in terms of their contribution to humanity.”
With such a successful career, Wilson has given back to her fans in her “Dare to Dream” lectures and in her series of books. The music and entertainment industry is such a popular phenomenon in American culture right now and sexual innuendos ooze from the television and radio set. With an increased electronically induced and influenced young generation, The Sun inquired what Mary Wilson, would tell young women and men about how to maneuver in such an over sexualized world.
“As adults we forget the things we did as children and the things we did unknowingly. What I can say to the youth of today is we were given a youth to make mistakes, to grow. The important thing to do is to learn from those mistakes,” said Wilson. “Do enjoy your youth. Hopefully you will listen to your parents and teachers so you don’t have to regret some of the mistakes you will make. But you have to remember there are consequences to the decisions that are made. You have to know in your own mind what is right or wrong. Enjoy yourself but be conscious of the decisions you make.”
Wilson grew up poor with a mother that couldn’t read or write but she had a loving family and had a good childhood. She wanted to fulfill a dream for herself and her parents. Starting a performing career while still in grade school, Wilson said her struggles came as an adult while trying to find her own individual happiness and career.
Going on into the auditorium to a sea of students and excited faculty, Wilson was welcomed by Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee. The story of her rise to fame coupled with a slideshow and history lesson of the struggles of the black community, Wilson told an inspirational story of all that can be fulfilled with a dream. She ended her lecture with a song that let the Jack Yates Senior High know, she still has it.
The JY Alumni Reunite Committee coordinated this event. The objective of the JY Reunite committee is to mobilize interested alumni that will speak and act as one body helping to enrich the spiritual and educational development of the JY students.- Terry Singleton, Coordinator, Jack Yates Alumni Reunite.
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