Newark, New Jersey elects a Mayor

A New Era, or More Of The Same?

In 2002, Newark had one of the roughest, if not nastiest, races for City Hall in recent memory in a fight, literally, between two note worthy politicians. Incumbent Mayor, Sharp James, while making in-roads in a bid for economic recovery, also ruled his city with an iron fist. It was what some might call a throw back to 'MACHINE POLITICS,' not seen since the days of Mayor Richard Daley of Chicago. Like Chicago's Daley, Sharp James was a native of his city, who knew the streets better than any political scientist, or urban studies expert.

James' challenger, Corey Booker, for many, was the polar opposite. While African-American and raised in a Newark suburb, he was a lighter-skinned, Ivy League educated newcomer, who caught the attention of money-men, and the movers and shakers of New York City, just across the Hudson River. Booker had vision, and political ambition but would lose a close contest that had the smell of the race card used in an amazing and bizzarre manner.

Both men happen to be African-American New Jersey-ites, but their vision and style could not be more different. James was brash and loud, and used the race card against Booker, telling the people of Newark that he was not authentically Black. While Booker on the otherhand was restrained, dignified and never addressed the matter of his education from an American elite college. What's more, to many Newark residents Booker seemed almost aloof about James' charges, defensive when pressed on the matter, and his mannerism appeared almost Un-Newark like, that is, cut out of an Oxford University cloth. Like his New York counter-part Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg across the Hudson, it was perceived that his high pedigree-education, relative business success, and behavior on the campaign trail only helped to underline that perception.

The 2002 contest was captured on film in the recently released movie simply called STREET FIGHT.

Now that the contest is settled, and Booker assumes the job he so coveted, the movie may be passe' but, the realities of governing a working class city, still recovering from the devastating race riots of 1967, will be the real test. Those scars run deep, as many of the middle class residents, both Black and White, have left over the decades. Take away the long shadow of New York city that so dominates the region, and Newark, in both population, and size, would mirror that of the Southern city of Atlanta, Georgia. Now, only one question remains.... Can Booker deliver on his promises?

Below is a recent article that lays out what is at stake.

Newark vote is a defeat for era of racial politics

By Mark J. Bonamo

In today's Newark, political deals are no longer made in the back room. They are made in the basement.

Below the Ivy Hill projects in New Jersey's largest city, two rising young politicians were courting the local Muslim population before Tuesday's nationally watched municipal elections.

Cory Booker, 37, candidate for mayor, and Ron Rice Jr., 38, his slate mate for City Council in this neighborhood, sat next to a pale green curtain separating men from women in the makeshift mosque.

On Tuesday, Booker scored an overwhelming victory. Rice won the plurality of votes in his race, but pending a count of provisional ballots, he faces a probable June runoff election.

They appealed to the voters on universal issues.

"We have the right to live without terror in our community," Booker said, reflecting worries about crime.

"This community is a delicious mixture of ethnicities, a wonderful mosaic that reflects America as a country," he continued. "If we as a people do the same thing we did yesterday, we will get the same results that we have today."

The faces of the people sitting on the floor of the mosque reflected some of the varied nationalities now present in Newark - Afghani, Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi.

Booker is African American, in a city where African Americans are still the majority, though the Latino population is at 30 percent and rising.

That might sound familiar to people in Camden. But what has changed in Newark is not just demographics. There has been a major adjustment of political attitudes.

Some history first:

After the 1967 riots, a scarred Newark turned over power to a new generation of politicians - African Americans schooled in the civil-rights movement. They removed a white power structure that had brought Newark to boiling point through corruption and mismanagement.

But the last 20 years brought the ascendancy of a new African American power base, led by Mayor Sharpe James, that flattered its white predecessors by imitation.

Budget deficits of $40 million became common; Newark lost control of its schools to the state, and a trifecta of crime, drugs and gangs is threatening the city's incipient revival.

This latest generation of African American politicians has a sense that a broader cross-section of people than blacks and Latinos needs to walk through the door with it to turn the city around.

"We've had leadership here for 20 years that has ignored whole populations of people," said Rice, who will represent a neighborhood where South Asians, Latinos and Eastern Europeans are all in evidence.

(The gap between Newark's political generations hits close to home for Rice. His father, Ron Rice Sr., ran against Booker. The younger Rice stood by Booker. Both Rices said the divide was just business and not personal.)

When asked why Booker and he would act differently from the older generation, the younger Rice referred to changes the civil-rights movement has brought:

"We're different because our experiences are different. Because of the previous generations' struggle, Cory and I were able to go to majority white colleges that had large international populations. We met, befriended and learned about people (who) didn't look like us. We now know better how to reach out to them."

Rice offered hope to cities around the state, such as Camden, where politics often are racially Balkanized.

"Reaching out to other populations sooner would have helped us come back from the riots a lot quicker," he said. "New immigrants are the salvation of a new Newark."

Back in the basement, Hafiz Ahmed, 55, the imam of the Ivy Hill mosque, gathered his congregation. Before he faced Mecca for the evening's final prayers, he contemplated the future of his adopted city.

"Governing the largest city in New Jersey is not an easy matter," he said, "but this young man Booker is learning. We no longer feel that we will be left behind. We want to play a role in the Newark of the future."

The future began this week.

And time will tell. We wish Booker and, the city of Newark, the best of luck. This is a story worth watching not only for those of us on the USA's Eastern Seaboard, but across the country and world, as well. Like many places I-A-N examines, Newark represents a long story and one of evolving cultural, ethnic, political and economic change. It is a city of great potential, and we'll see just how that change ( in the shape of a newly elected mayor for starters, ) shakes out, in the coming weeks, months, and next four years ahead.

-Eric Williams, Executive Director