Breakthrough mayor’s race creates tough choice for Boston...The deep well of experienced, non-white candidates is widely cheered within city’s Dems

[basquebromance]

Breakthrough mayor’s race creates tough choice for Boston

The deep well of experienced, non-white candidates is widely cheered within the city’s Democratic apparatus. But the same milestone is proving challenging to navigate.

www.politico.com

the plight of white people is a celebration for minorities. it shouldn't be

 

[basquebromance]

"After nearly 200 years of being led by white men, Boston could have its first female mayor, its first Black mayor, its first Asian-American mayor or its first Arab-American mayor this fall. Four of the five major candidates are multi-term city councilors, and the fifth spent seven years as former mayor Marty Walsh’s economic development chief. As it stands, the four leading candidates are women."

 

[basquebromance]

"State Rep. Russell Holmes calls it a “Jim Clyburn situation” — where there’s a diverse and qualified field of candidates to pick from and people are looking for community leaders to give a push to those most likely to win and deliver.

“We’re having a very tough choice amongst these five candidates,” said Holmes, who is Black and represents the city’s most predominantly Black neighborhoods."

 

[basquebromance]

" even as the City Council diversified, the mayor’s office has remained elusive to non-white candidates. Sam Yoon, the first Asian American to run for mayor in 2009, fell short against incumbent Mayor Tom Menino. Several prominent politicians of color ran in the first post-Menino mayor’s race in 2013. None of them — including Barros — made it to the final, either, resulting in the white-guy showdown that Walsh won.

“Will we do again what we did in 2013 and not have a Black candidate in the final? I am being asked that everyday. … Do we want to have one voice or do we say we split our voices and see where the chips lie?” Holmes said. “We should have a Black person in the final. That’s just what I’m hearing, period.”

 

[basquebromance]

"Atyia Martin, a former Walsh administration official and nonprofit leader, dismissed the notion of having to rally Boston’s Black voters behind one Black candidate.

“I just don’t buy into that kind of scarcity thinking,” Martin, who endorsed Campbell, said. “I don’t think we should make it about which Black woman should get in there, I think we should make it about which candidate is most qualified to get in there.”"

 

[EvilCat Breath]

Boston is voting on whether to join the list of failed cities like Chicago, Detroit and Baltimore.

 

[excalibur]

Boston is voting on whether to join the list of failed cities like Chicago, Detroit and Baltimore.

And "qualified" is doubtful with most of them.

 

[excalibur]

More like a breakthrough infection.

 

[TheParser]

Why the astonishment?

Chicago's two candidates were African American ladies. Atlanta & San Francisco are run by African American ladies.

Here in Los Angeles, the next elected mayor will probably be a non-Caucasian and also a woman. (Our current mayor is headed to India as the American ambassador. The temporary replacement will probably be a Hispanic lady.)

So Boston is just showing everyone that all this talk about a changing America is not just talk.

The census told us that there are now 5,000,000 fewer Caucasians than the last census.

And we are welcoming tens of thousands of refugees from Afghanistan, not to mention the many ladies and gentlemen from Central America.

The change has arrived.

Best wishes!