Soon after they returned to Boro Park, Mr. Drebin read in the newspapers that the mayor of New York City was being sued for not allowing blacks to bid on any city housing contracts. Politician Jesse Jackson was calling for all licensed housing contractors to come to a municipal building in Harlem the following week to bid for contracts, essentially allowing previous outcasts to get work.
Out of curiosity, Mr. Drebin showed up at the meeting. The conference room was packed with blacks, eager for jobs. At the conference, Jackson saw Mr. Drebin and didn’t let his appearance go unnoticed. “Hey, Jew boy, what are you doing here?”
Mr. Drebin was ready to bury himself alive. He was already uncomfortable surrounded by the blacks before being addressed, and now the whole room was looking at him. “I am a licensed electrician by profession.”
“A licensed electrician?” remarked Jackson. “Great! I want to meet with you after this meeting. Please stay.” During the meeting, he told the crowd, “I have electrical jobs for all of you — licensed or not. You’ll all be employed under Mr. Drebin.”
After the conference, Jesse Jackson pulled him to his office and handed him a stack of applications. “Take these applications and do all the electrical jobs on that list.”
Mr. Drebin was stunned. He was being handed hundreds of jobs all around New York City! He told Jackson that he didn’t have the manpower to complete all of them, but Jackson just laughed. “You have all the hundreds of black employees who showed up at the meeting at your disposal. They are motivated workers who want to prove their expertise and show how they can get the job done to perfection.”
Mr. Drebin went home and called the black electricians to set up jobs for all of them.
Over the next few months, Mr. Drebin oversaw all the projects that were taking place under his trade name, Metro Electronic Contracting Inc., in exchange for a large check ushered to him by the City of New York. Within six months, he had completed all the work and was holding the check that covered all the projects. With that check alone, Mr. Drebin was able to cover his pledge and take home a nice profit as well.
But the story only gets better...
