Melvin B. Miller
Editor & Publisher

An inspiring example

Massachusetts voters have made history. The election of Deval Patrick as governor demonstrates the willingness of the people to support the best candidate for high office without concern for race, religion or other such irrelevancies. This attitude bodes well for the success of Patrick’s administration.

There was once a time when it was considered political suicide for an African American to run for high statewide office. However, Edward W. Brooke dispelled that notion when he won his 1962 bid for state attorney general. After two terms in that office, Brooke was elected to the United States Senate in 1966, garnering 58 percent of the vote against former governor Endicott Peabody.

Brooke was the political pioneer, the first African American ever to win a general election to the U.S. Senate. Then, in 1989, L. Douglas Wilder was elected governor of Virginia. Three years later, Carol Moseley Braun was elected to the U.S. Senate from Illinois. In 2004, Illinois became the first state to elect two African American senators with the victory of Barack Obama.

It’s no longer unusual for African Americans to run for these lofty posts, but success is still far from guaranteed. Ken Blackwell was the Republican candidate for governor in Ohio, and Hall of Fame Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Lynn Swann ran for the same office in Pennsylvania. Neither had much chance of stemming the rising Democratic tide.

Kweisi Mfume, the former president of the NAACP, ran for the U.S. Senate in Maryland, but lost in the Democratic primary election to Ben Cardin by a margin of just over three percent. Cardin then defeated Michael Steele, the state’s black Republican lieutenant governor. In Michigan, Keith Butler, a black minister and politician, lost in the Republican primary to Michael Bourchard.

In Tennessee, Democratic African American Congressman Harold Ford Jr. was locked in a close and vicious battle with Republican Bob Corker. Ford wanted to become the first black U.S. Senator elected south of the Mason-Dixon Line.

In this election cycle, seven major black politicians ran for governor or U.S. senator. That is a record. Not all of them won, but that’s not the point. An analysis of the vote count would indicate that many white voters crossed the racial barrier in these elections. This should inspire considerable confidence that the nation is moving away from its crippling history of racial discrimination.

Of course, such discrimination still exists, but it is no longer the impediment that it once was. The efforts of those who fought for civil rights in the 1950s and ’60s helped to bring about that change. The strategy then was to induce whites in power to change the laws, because blacks lacked the political clout to do so by themselves.

The election of Deval Patrick as governor of Massachusetts should serve as a source of encouragement for those who think that future opportunities are eclipsed by their race. Who could have had a less promising start in life than Deval Patrick? Despite an impoverished childhood, Patrick never lost hope. Even as a child, he understood that academic success led to the road up.

It is now time for all African Americans to take a more positive view of their opportunities. The obsession with being a victim of bigotry is incompatible with the attitude of a winner. It is time to develop a strategy for success. With his positive message of hope and his unrelenting effort for success, Deval Patrick has shown us the way.