Melvin B. Miller
Editor & Publisher

A broad appeal

With Deval Patrick’s landslide victory last week, Massachusetts Democrats demonstrated a new maturity. In a three-way race, Patrick overwhelmed the opposition. He won 50 percent of the vote, every county and senatorial district in the state, and 321 of the 351 cities and towns. He won an absolute majority in Boston, Springfield and Worcester. Race was not an issue in the campaign or among most voters.

Patrick’s grassroots campaign clearly aroused the enthusiasm of voters. The estimated 915,209 Democratic ballots cast represents the highest voter turnout since 1990, with increased turnout in black wards as well. In Roxbury’s Ward 12, where the write-in campaign for state Sen. Dianne Wilkerson made it especially important for residents to vote, 40.3 percent of registered voters went to the polls. However, African Americans account for only 6.8 percent of the state’s population, making two things clear: the black vote was a relatively small part of the total and Patrick has significant appeal to a broad base of voters.

Boston is a significant port of entry into the United States. Consequently, ethnic communities have developed in the state. Citizens have considerable pride in their ethnic heritage. However, the Patrick vote indicates that people in Massachusetts are looking more and more beyond their ethnic neighborhoods for meaningful collaborations.

This should be good news for African Americans. Many blacks believe that their race absolutely closes the door of opportunity for them. While that was once a realistic conclusion, it is not true today. Deval Patrick’s success in life was not constrained by race or humble beginnings. That is part of his appeal. His life demonstrates that in Massachusetts everyone has the possibility of achieving great things, regardless of race or the impecunious circumstances of one’s childhood.

When reviewing Patrick’s achievements, it should be obvious that his successes were not a matter of wishful thinking. His hard work as a student earned him the opportunity to attend Milton Academy on scholarship, where he con-tinued his commitment to education, enabling him to be admitted to Harvard College and then Harvard Law School. His good character and concern for fairness and the welfare of others created additional opportunities.

Now Deval Patrick stands on the brink of becoming the governor of Massachusetts. This is no fluke. Rather, this is the culmination of a lifetime of consistent hard work and strict adherence to high principles. Black youngsters must take note: if they follow a similar course of action, many successes in life await them.

Striving for excellence

It must not go unnoticed, especially with Dr. Tom Payzant retiring from his post as superintendent of Boston Public Schools, that Boston won the Broad Prize for Urban Education. Considered the Nobel Prize for public secondary education, the Broad Prize awards $1 million every year to “large urban school districts that demonstrate the greatest overall performance and improvement in student achievement while reducing achievement gaps for poor and minority students.”

Each year, Broad Prize judges select five finalists from a field of 100 of the largest urban school districts in the nation and choose a winner on the basis of academic improvement in a number of areas. The winning district earns a $500,000 top prize, with the remaining four finalists each receiving $125,000, funds which must go toward college scholarships for graduating seniors.

For each of the past four years, Boston has won one of the $125,000 finalist’s prizes. This year, we went over the top, validating the gains made since Mayor Thomas M. Menino assumed direct responsibility for the quality of our city’s urban education. While the task for achieving ultimate success is enormous and still far from over, it is appropriate to acknowledge progress and give credit where it is due. So far, so good.