Mayor visits student radio show on WVCW

Sometimes all you have to do is ask.

Political science major Bobby Showah received this advice from his mother and took heed.

On a whim, he invited Mayor L. Douglas Wilder to be a guest on his radio show, WVCW’s The Bailout, and nearly two months later, found himself shaking hands with the mayor.

“I wouldn’t say I was freaking out or anything like that, but for him to walk in, that’s probably something I’m going to remember for the rest of my life, regardless of the field I go into,” Showah said. “He’s such a historic figure.”

Wilder holds the title of first-elected African-American governor in United States history. He has acted as mayor to the City of Richmond since 2005 and will conclude his term January 2009.

“It’s a lifetime opportunity,” Showah said. “We had Barack Obama elected the first black president and this is maybe one notch down, the first black governor. I can’t stress that enough.”

Wilder spent nearly an hour talking with Showah, even answering questions that dated back to Wilder’s early years.

“He is someone who isn’t the most likely politician, when he was younger he was going into chemistry,” Showah said.

“Brown vs. Board of Education passed and that turned his life around.”

Despite the fact that Wilder decided not to run for another term as mayor, he plans to remain active within the community.

“I will not stop being involved in social policy and community politics,” Wilder said. “I will just stop being an elected official.”

Wilder was a part-time professor at VCU from 1994-2004. He plans to teach full-time in the school of government and public affairs named after him.

“We’ve got a really good school here,” Wilder said.

As far as being an inspirational figure, Wilder said he was
“merely a vehicle” and like Obama, stood “on the shoulders of numbers of people.”

Showah said he hopes to learn more from Wilder by taking one of his classes.

“It’s people like him that motivate me,” Showah said. “Regardless of race, gender, religion, political affiliation. Anyone who can do that at the stature of where he was, that’s something that will stay with me.”

Wilder said, “Do all that you can with all that you have.”