David Norman Dinkins (born July 10 1927 in Trenton, New Jersey) was the Mayor of New York City from 1990 through 1993, being the first and to date only African American to hold that office. He defeated Rudolph Giuliani after the defeated Edward Koch.
According to Wikipedia, "Dinkins has been called a man of deep convictions by his admirers, although few concrete programs can be linked to those convictions. Others have called him a political Bill Cosby: "Dinkins projects the kind of personality that's not threatening to whites and is acceptable to blacks," Representative Floyd H. Flake, a black Democrat from Queens, told the New York Times. Yet throughout his career he has received only marginal support from black political groups or voters outside his Harlem base, losing as many elections as he has won. The "rap" against him cites his inadequate support for minority issues."
Does that sound familiar? I was on the radio show "Success Strategies with Zhana", and Joan from HBCU Kids mentioned that when she went to the Election Day Party for Barack of Obama most of the campaign workers were White. I had made mention in my report on the Rally Obama had in Newark, that it looked like I was in a Sea of Milk when it came to the people who were staffing the event. I also noted that the Black Politicians in NJ didn't do their very best to pack the NJPAC. When the Inauguration of the Mayor and City Council took place the was standing room only.
Member of the Black Congressional Caucus, chimed in the support late for Obama. Which is typical politics but is also an indication of the problems we face as a community. Dinkins was a great coalition builder. The problem was that different factions of the coalitions had competing interested.
Here were key incidents that strained the Dinkins Coalition:
According Richard Steier, from "http://www.thechief-leader.com/news/2007/0427/Razzle_Dazzle/ an article of The Chief, "In January 1990, shortly after Mr. Dinkins became Mayor, an incident involving a black customer and a Korean grocery owner in Flatbush provoked a furor because of charges that the owner treated black shoppers with suspicion. It wasn't clear how a store in a primarily black area maintained a client base if shoppers were treated so badly, but Mr. Carson came into the neighborhood and organized a boycott.
Whatever legitimate grievances existed soon paled, however, before the racist tint that the boycott took. Protesters taunted the store's owner and employees as "yellow monkeys" and carried picket signs stating, "Don't buy from people who don't look like you."
"In addition to facing attacks on his financial handling of the city, Dinkins began to see the further shattering of his beloved "gorgeous mosaic." In 1991 violent protests erupted after a car in the entourage of a Brooklyn Jewish leader struck and killed a black youth in Queens. Dinkins appealed to both sides to follow the light of reason rather than cave in to emotion, stereotypes, and hate and was credited with having brokered a peace, albeit a fragile one." this is from Wikipedia.
The biggest problem is primarily a matter of perspective. Because the way we process information differently based on our experiences we have conflicting interpretations of the same event. Right now the Country if facing major financial restructuring. Charges of corruption are clearly coming. Expectations of most of Obama's coalition are not going to be meet.
Part of the reason why many Black who are qualified may not be chosen is because they represent view and philosophies which are unacceptable to main stream America. LIke Al Sharpton, Louis Farrakhan to name a few. These people are beloved by many people in the Black Community because they Stood Up for our community when no one else would.
We must call for an adequate representation of Blacks in high level position. Dr. Cornell West, Dr Mulana Keranga, Dr Joy Leary and there are countless other Blacks who are qualified for serve this country. We should not allow for them to use the "Lack of Experience" issue be raised against the same people who are most proud of President Elect Obama's accomplishment. Right now the first two appointments have been business as usual with more of the same on the way.
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Wednesday, November 12th 2008 at 7:11AM
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