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.”