Familiar faces run in Sixth District race

Serghino René

If Mattapan voters are looking for a fresh face to send to Beacon Hill, they are out of luck.

The two Democrats vying to replace retiring Sixth Suffolk District Rep. Shirley Owens-Hicks (D-Boston) are both veteran community figures — former Boston Police Deputy Superintendent William “Billy” Celester and Democratic State Committee member Willie Mae Allen — with their share of triumphs and bruises on the public stage.

With no Republican running for the seat, the winner of the September 19 primary will waltz to victory unopposed in the November final.

Democratic activist Wayne Wilson, the only white candidate in the contest, withdrew from the race after a run of negative media attention on past foibles with law and the decision of the powerful AFL-CIO labor group to endorse Allen.

In public appearances and in interviews, Celester and Allen strike similar notes on the need to improve public education, reduce youth violence, provide affordable health care, address immigration woes, and stimulate economic development.

The predominantly black district, stretching from Dorchester down to the banks of the Neponset River along the Milton line, includes the African-American community’s highest concentration of single family homes, some of its most notorious hot spots for youth violence, and a large Caribbean immigrant community, evident in the bustling storefronts of Mattapan Square and roti shops of Blue Hill Avenue.

With few major issues separating the candidates, the race is coming down to questions of character, experience, and leadership.

A resident of Mattapan for 38 years and an unsuccessful city council candidate in the eighties, Allen prides herself on her community and political activism. According to her campaign literature, she has attended every Democratic National Convention as a delegate or alternate and is now serving her twentieth year as a Democratic State Committee member. She authored the Willie Mae Allen Amendment, which ensures minority representation in each ward in the state during Massachusetts Democratic State Conventions. In 1993, she was elected to the Massachusetts Electoral College pledged to former President Clinton and Vice President Al Gore.

“I have more experience than you can realize,” said Allen. “My dedication, experience and trustworthiness says a lot. I know I am the better candidate.”

Of course, Celester disagrees.

Celester, who has been endorsed by former state Sen. Bill Owens, brother of the retiring incumbent, emphasizes his crime-fighting credentials in his first bid for public office.

“Crime affects the costs of housing because it affects loans

and people don’t want to live in an area with crime,” says Celester. “It affects education because students can’t learn if they are afraid and teachers can’t teach if they are playing referee. It affects community health, leading to drugs and shootings. All that can be traced back to crime.”

The former police commander played a key role in reducing youth violence during his stint as commander of Area B during the early 1990s, implementing the controversial but effective “stop and frisk” policy designed to target habitual offenders.

Civil libertarians bitterly criticized the policy, but the public largely applauded as falling crime rates drew national attention to the “Boston Miracle.”

Celester’s record after leaving Boston was decidedly mixed. Heading up the Newark Police Department under Mayor Sharpe James, he received high marks for introducing community policing tactics to one of the Garden State’s toughest beats, but got caught diverting department money for personal use and spent two years in federal prison.

Chastened rather than ashamed by his stint as an inmate, Celester returned to Boston to get re-involved in the fight against youth crime and to use his own story to draw attention to policies that limit access to jobs for those with criminal records.

Celester says the past is the least of his worries right now. “People in the community know me and what I’m about,” says Celester. “They know I’ll fight for them. We have a crisis in the community and we need someone who knows what to do about it.”

As evidence of his leadership, Celester cites his role in forming the Afro-American Police Association -— now known as the Massachusetts Association of Minority Law Enforcement Officers — which fought to increase the representation of officers of color in state and local police forces. He was instrumental in organizing rallies like the Community Coming Together Against Crime, which drew over 50,000 people to Franklin Park in solidarity with cops and community organizers to address public safety issues.

“You couldn’t do something like that today,” says Celester.

So far, Celester says he has raised over $7,000 for his campaign and has been endorsed by the likes of City Councilor Chuck Turner, former WBZ-TV news reporter Sarah Ann Shaw, Nation of Islam Minister Don Muhammad, Mattapan Civic Association President Mable Graham, retired Police Deputy Superintendent Willis Saunders, the Caribbean American People Action Committee and the Boston Police Patrolmen’s Association, among others.

Former WBZ reporter Sarah Ann Shaw has known Celester for the last 23 years.

“Even though he may have a brush with the law, I still think he is a stand-up guy,” Shaw said.