Three mayors who hold the distinction of being the first African-American mayors of their cities spoke Tuesday at the University of Memphis — not only about past achievements, but also about current political problems faced by African-American mayors and the future of political power.
The speakers were Richard Hatcher, elected in Gary, Ind. in 1967; David Dinkins, elected as New York City’s mayor in 1990; and Mayor Willie Herenton of Memphis, elected in 1992. They were the first African Americans to be elected to the offices in their respective cities. The lecture, the second annual Hooks Symposium, was titled “From Outsider to Insider Politics,” and examined moving from protest to politics.
Herenton literally went from protesting in front of Memphis’ city hall during the 1968 sanitation strikes, wearing a famous “I AM A MAN” placard, to being inside the office behind the desk.
“I never realized that one day I would enter the city halls as a mayor who had once been a protester,” said Herenton.
According to civil rights and former-NAACP leader Ben Hooks, U of M students have seen Herenton in office since they were in the third or fourth grade, but “they might not have know that there was a time when black men and women were not in positions of power.”
Junior Julia Pillow, a public relations major, attended the lecture for a class, but said she was looking forward to hearing about the struggles of the mayors.
“They were the first ones out there,” said Pillow. “It must have been hard to get support from the people.”
Herenton said the status as “first” brings high expectations.
“When you are first... all of a sudden people who help you reach office set forth expectations that are unreasonable,” said Herenton, citing jobs and all-black boards.
Herenton said that while his election was “a crusade” for Memphis, and Memphis will never be the same since its election of a black mayor, the responsibility as mayor does not fall into color lines.
“As mayor, you must represent every segment of the city,” said Herenton. He half-jokingly added, “Because I had never seen that in a Memphis mayor before, I thought I was making history.”
Herenton said the main difficulty in representing everyone is the duality of the public.
“Black people were saying ‘I didn’t elect you for everyone, I elected you for me,’ and white people are looking for the preferential treatment of blacks,” said Herenton, citing the recent attempts at the consolidation of Memphis and suburbs as an example.
“I had said that the fact that the suburbs were holding a dinner the same night as the one we were hosting to try and unify, ‘divided (us) geographically, politically and racially,’” Herenton said, adding he had found that the only issue that was being talked about was the race issue.
According to Herenton, race matters, but race is not the issue — the issue is performance.
“I strive hard to a good manager, and Memphis currently has the best economy in its history,” said Herenton, who added advice for the next generation. “Be good at what you do. Be excellent.”
Hatcher, one of the first African-American mayors in history, spoke of the importance of remembering the past and learning to break through current political situations.
“Many have forgotten what others have done that got us over,” said Hatcher. “We went from the streets to the seats of power.”
In 1962, the city hall in Atlanta still had segregated restrooms. But 27 years later, it had an African-American mayor, according to political science professor Doug Imig. In 1967, the first two African-American mayors — one of them Hatcher — were elected. Today, America is approaching 10,000 black elected officials, making Hatcher’s election the beginning of a political movement.
U of M president Shirley Raines said that the lecture was a chance for students to see history.
“It’s important for us as a University to study the process of social change and to honor those who have been leaders of that change,” said Raines.
Hatcher questioned why cities with black majorities have recently been electing white mayors to replace black mayors, and extolled the shift of focus within the black community from protest to politics.
Hatcher called for using political power to level economic power.
“The economic card always trumps the political card,” said Hatcher, and added that economic concerns would be the focus of the future.
Dinkins, elected in 1990 as the first African-American mayor of New York City, commented on the state of his city in regards to the continuing poverty and homelessness — issues only worsened by September 11 attacks.
“When I left office there were 600,000 people who were homeless. There are currently over a million,” said Dinkins, who spoke of the difficulty of being elected into what he called “an economy of structural imbalance.”
Dinkins said the current rebuilding in New York should leave no one out.
“This is no time for tempering or timidity,” said Dinkins, calling for a war on domestic terrorism as aggressive as the war on foreign terrorism, citing lynchings, bombings and homelessness.
“Social change is a constant battle,” said Dinkins.
The lecture, follows a visit Monday by 400 sixth-graders who came to The U of M campus to learn about civil rights and interact with Hooks.
According to Imig, one young visitor asked Hooks how someone like her could go to college. Imig said that Hooks replied to all of the children, saying that it was their job to work hard. If they did that, Imig said Hooks told them, “There will be a place for you at the University of Memphis.”
Imig said that the Hooks Institute’s recent $835,000 federal grant, as well as several corporate sponsorships from business such as Nike, ensures keeping this promise to educate the next generation of leaders of social change.
“Do I think that one day we will see an African-American president?” said Hooks with a smile. “I’m sure I won’t live to see it. But you will.”
