Minority candidates have little luck in Worcester
Joanna James
WORCESTER —Bill Coleman has unsuccessfully run for 15 various
elected offices in Worcester since 1979. But he said he wouldn’t
stop trying because as an African-American he can’t fathom
letting a ballot go without at least one black candidate on it.
“Worcester is not looked upon as the promised land in terms
of opportunity and access to government for the black community,”
Coleman said. “It’s looked upon as a place that will
stifle you and stifle your ambition to do something — and
I made a commitment with sheer determination to stay because that
isn’t right.”
Coleman has stuck to his mission despite losing — once again
– his bid to become the city’s first black mayor during
last week’s elections.
Minority candidates have not fared well in Worcester. Prior to last
week’s elections, Juan Gomez was the only minority sitting
on the city council, but he lost his incumbent seat this time around.
In 1998 Stacey DeBoise Luster became the first African-American
woman to sit on city council and served until 2001 when she accepted
a job in the city’s school department.
There has been two African-American men who have sat on city council:
Charles E. Scott from 1918-21 and then again from 1926 to 1937 and
G. Alfred Busby from 1903-04. Coleman emphasized that Busby won
his seat on city council when 88 percent of African-Americans couldn’t
vote.
In a sense, Coleman wants to change Worcester’s history.
With a combined 27 percent of the city population of 173,000, minorities
are in a good position to have impact on city government. Latinos
comprise 15 percent, African-Americans 7 percent and Asians 5 percent.
Coleman is something of an oddity. Born and raised in Philadelphia,
Coleman moved to Worcester in 1973 to study the priesthood at Holy
Cross College. Coleman did not pursue the priesthood and ended up
graduating from Worcester State College.
Although he did not study politics, Coleman said he became impassioned
by the Civil Rights era and growing up with figures such as Rev.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and John F. Kennedy.
In 1976 Coleman was awarded a Washington scholarship to work for
a former Massachusetts Senator Edward Brook III. It was in 1978
that Coleman returned to Worcester to start a political career first
running for school committee.
Politics is one thing; but community involvement is another, and
Coleman has remained active with initiatives such as Cribs for Kids,
which provided more than 500 cribs to prevent prenatal deaths and
raising $400,000 in 2003 to open city pools.
Coleman now works as a nutrition educator at a UMass Extension program.
Working with city kids daily and having a 22-year-old daughter and
a 21-year-old son whom both left Worcester, Coleman said he understands
why graduates are leaving the city.
“First generation new Americans scrub the floors for new generation
Americans to walk over them,” Coleman said. “Well in
Worcester we have three generations of black Americans born and
raised here but they’re still scrubbing floors. All because
somebody hasn’t said ‘look I’m going to make it
easier for my next generation.’”
Kenneth J. Moynihan, a professor in Assumption College’s Department
of History, explained that part of the problem in Worcester is the
difficulty in getting the city’s African Americans to turn
out and vote.
“The local government is nothing like the proportion the black
community is becoming in the city,” Moynihan said. “Other
than getting the black community to vote, what is needed is more
candidates.”
As far as Coleman, Moynihan said “People are not taking him
seriously” as a result of all of his failed campaigns.
Of the 12,000 black registered voters, Coleman said only 400 voted
two years ago and no more than 1,000 turned out last week.
“The black community for some reason or another has not stepped
up to the plate,” Coleman said. “We remind folks every
February that people died for the right to vote. We’ve done
a good job registering people to vote but turning that registration
into voter participation has been an ongoing struggle with the city
of Worcester.”
Bob Bliss, a city communications coordinator, said it would be nice
to have more minorities in some elected positions but “appointing
them is against the rules— it’s a question of people
getting elected.”
And hired. Coleman pointed to the make-up of the city’s departments.
Of the city’s 1,703 employees, Julie Jacobson, assistant city
manager, said that 4 percent are black and 5 percent are Hispanic.
Of the 233 management positions, there are 11 minorities.
“In terms of a city wide advocacy effort for minority inclusion
into the city community, it doesn’t exist,” Coleman
said. “And the only way it would exist is if folks had an
elected official — it has to come from government.”
“The sad part is those who need political representation the
most and are impacted negatively from a lack of being represented
are the ones who choose not to participate,” Coleman said.
“In terms of helping minorities elevate themselves to the
American dream — yes, Worcester is a mess.”
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