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November 13, 2003

People power!

Political pundits were shocked to awaken on Wednesday, November 5, to find that their predictions about Boston’s city council race were wrong. The only question still in doubt, they thought, was whether Felix Arroyo or Maura Hennigan would be bumped from the council. They believed that Patricia White, who came in third in the preliminary race, was assured a seat. Only four could be elected at-large.

Patricia White was running on the coattails of her father, Kevin H. White, who served as Boston’s mayor for 15 years from 1968 to 1983. But that was 20 years ago. After such a span of time those coattails were no longer strong enough, and the minority community has grown since then.

The real surprise was that Felix Arroyo climbed all the way to second place with 34,685 votes, only 1,702 votes behind Michael Flaherty, who finished first. Stephen Murphy, who was expected to finish second, barely made it to fourth place just 861 votes ahead of Patricia White. Also, Murphy lost his home ward in Hyde Park to Arroyo.

The reason for this political surprise was that blacks, Latinos, and Asians voted in uncustomary numbers. According to statistics from Boston Vote, the turnout of minorities was significantly greater than 1999 when there was also no vote for mayor. The Asian vote was 82.8 percent higher, the black vote was 78 percent higher and the Latino vote was 76 percent higher. By contrast the white vote was 12.5 percent lower than in 1999.

Even with the victory, minorities hold only three seats on the 13 member council although the majority of the city’s population is black, Latino or Asian. It will be important in the months ahead for the minority groups to coalesce on issues where they have a common interest and to work hard now to increase voter turnout in the next election. Voting in every election must become a habit in the minority community.

The community should be encouraged by what happened on Tuesday, Nov. 4. By voting, the people expressed their opinion and their voices have been heard. Boston’s minorities can no longer be ignored. Anyone with political ambitions in the city will now have to consider the interests of minorities. Change will not come overnight but change is on the way. Blacks, Latinos and Asians have every reason to be hopeful.

The wrong target

The Democratic candidates for president all agree on one point – the nation will be better served having a Democrat in the White House. However, the personal ambition of the candidates seems, at times, to trump what they have all acknowledged as the greater good.

As frontrunner, Howard Dean has become the target. Dean made a comment recently that seems to be obviously sensible. He said, “I still want to be the candidate for guys with confederate flags in their pickup trucks. We can’t beat George Bush unless we appeal to a broad cross-section of Democrats.” All the other candidates have vilified Dean for the remark.

What a foolish reaction. Democrats certainly have to win back the support of poor whites if they hope to win the presidency. How absurd to infer that Dean supports the display of the stars and bars because he wants to reach out to those who do.

Dean has gained extensive support because he is a straight talker, unlike some of his opponents who measure the wind before they risk a public statement.

 

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